Off the wire
• French president backs EU aid plan on Syria's Aleppo  • Iraq summons Turkish ambassador over Erdogan's comments on Mosul battle  • Study shows decline in wildlife populations in Kenya  • Major news items in leading German newspapers  • Update: Iran's president starts visit to Hanoi for talks  • Iran denies claims of arming Yemeni Houthi militants  • Miss Universe pageant to push through as schedule on Jan. 30  • Myanmar grants country's first mobile financial service license  • 39 militants killed in clashes in Afghan Kunduz city: official  • UNRWA employees strike in Gaza, Jerusalem  
You are here: 　 Home

Lithuanian president votes for change in parliamentary elections

Xinhua, October 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite voted in an early ballot that started on Wednesday in the country's parliamentary elections.

Though the Baltic state's parliamentary elections will take place on Sunday, Grybauskaite chose to give her vote in the advance voting that started in all of the country's municipalities.

After casting her vote, Grybauskaite told local journalists she had voted for "change."

"For change which would lead to the stable growth of welfare," the president told journalists at the municipality of Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital.

She said she chose early voting to demonstrate the importance of participating in the elections and urged people to vote actively and give their vote responsibly.

"Elections are Lithuania's opportunity to decide on how we will live for the coming four years," said Grybauskaite.

Currently, Lithuanian center-left government is formed by the Social Democratic party, the Labor party and the party Order and Justice.

This year, 12 parties and two electoral coalitions are taking part in the parliamentary elections.

According to political analysts, the outcome of Lithuania's parliamentary elections is unpredictable with latest polls showing a close race between the ruling Social Democratic party, the party Peasant and Greens union and the conservative opposition party the Homeland union-Lithuanian Christian democrats.

Earlier this week, the last poll before the parliamentary elections showed the Social Democrats would receive 15.6 percent of votes, Peasant and Greens union would receive support from 14 percent of voters and 13.7 percent of voters would support for the Homeland union-Lithuanian Christian democrats at the nationwide multi-seat constituency.

Lithuania elects 71 members of the 141-seat Seimas (parliament) in single-seat constituencies. Another 70 MPs are elected by proportional representation in a single nationwide multi-seat constituency.

According to Lithuania's central electoral commission, approximately 2.5 million eligible voters will choose the members of Seimas from 1,415 candidates this year. Enditem