Lithuania sees active early voting in parliamentary elections

Lithuanian parliamentary elections saw an increase in early voting activity, official data showed on Friday.

Some 87,280, or 3.5 percent of Lithuania's eligible voters, cast their vote during the two days of the early voting for parliamentary elections.

This marks a sharp increase in early voting activity compared to the previous elections of the Seimas, the Lithuanian parliament. In 2012, 63,262, or 2.47 percent of voters, cast their vote in early voting.

The early voting took place in the country's municipalities. Social networks were flooded with photos of mostly young people standing in the queues waiting to give their vote.

The municipality of Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, was forced to extend its work by two hours to allow everyone to vote.

Zenonas Vaigauskas, head of Lithuania's central electoral commission, told local media the growth in voting activity was observed in the whole country.

"Judging from experience, higher activity during early voting usually means relatively higher activity on the main voting day," Vaigauskas was quoted as saying by news website vz.lt.

Lithuania elects 71 members of the 141-seat Seimas in 71 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 members of the Seimas from 1,415 candidates this year. Endit