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Lithuanian parliament to discuss legalizing online voting in elections

Xinhua, February 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

Lithuanian government approved an initiative on Monday under which online voting could be allowed as soon as in 2016.

The proposal to allow e-voting in Lithuania has been put forward by two ministers of the Lithuanian social-democratic cabinet at a governmental meeting and given green light for the further discussions in the parliament.

"We have discussed the proposal, it has been approved and forwarded for discussions in the parliament's spring session," Juozas Bernatonis, minister of justice, told journalists after the meeting.

According to him, if the proposal is approved by the parliament, Lithuanian citizen would have the possibility to vote online as soon as in October 2016 when the next parliamentary elections take place.

The implementation of online voting would encourage Lithuanian voters to participate more actively in both national and local elections and referendums, authors of the proposal noted.

"Such form of voting is very relevant for people of younger age, furthermore, online voting would be a far more convenient option for citizens who live outside Lithuania," Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius was quoted as saying in a press release.

A poll carried out for the Justice Ministry has shown that 65 percent of the population support online voting in Lithuania, according to BNS news agency.

In the European Union, Lithuania's Baltic neighbor Estonia has been the only nation to use e-voting system for general elections so far. A few other EU countries accept online voting for local council elections. Endit