Such a decision was made on Tuesday evening, following the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania (LVAT) annulled the commission’s previous decision to exclude K. Tubis from the elections.
Since K. Tubis was returned to the election campaign following early voting had already started, the CEC decided to cancel the votes of the voters of the Anykščiai district who voted on Tuesday and invited them to come and vote once more.
CEC deputy chairman Andrius Puksas said that the voters who came to vote on Wednesday will already receive ballot papers with the name of K. Tubis.
According to the election organizers, on Tuesday until 6 p.m. 87 voters of Anykščiai district voted in advance.
“Those votes will not be counted,” CEC employee Rokas Stabingis informed during the meeting.
Those voters are invited to come vote once more on Wednesday, Thursday or Election Day, he said.
Voters who have voted will not be personally notified of the annulment of their will, because, according to R. Stabingis, the CEC has no contacts with these people.
K. Tubis, for his part, raised the question of the violation of his rights and how he will be compensated for the damage caused.
“I lost nine days to present my activities, my program to voters. I was eliminated from the election through no fault of my own,” claimed the candidate.
He emphasized that he is participating in the second round on unequal terms with his opponent, as he has neither leaflets nor posters, nor might he hold meetings with voters.
On March 7, the CEC expelled K. Tubis, a candidate of the Lithuanian Peasants and Greens Union, from the second round of the Anykščiai district mayoral elections, because the Panevėžys District Court provided an explanation that the punishment given to a politician convicted of influence peddling – the deprivation of the right to work in the public service for four years – includes a ban on working elected position.
LVAT stated on Tuesday that the restriction named in the decision of the Panevėžys District Court – deprivation of the right to work in the civil service for four years – is not clear and cannot be unequivocally understood as limiting being elected to the post of mayor. According to the LVAT, if there was uncertainty regarding the verdict, the Panevėžys District Court might clarify it with a ruling, at that time the Central Election Commission relied on the explanation of one of the judges in the case, which, among other things, “is contradictory” when removing a candidate from the elections.
During the first round of elections, K. Tubis collected the most votes in Anykščiai – 29.39 percent. – voters’ votes. In the second round, he competes with Social Democrat Dainius Žiogelis, who received 19.45 percent. voter support.
The second mayoral election will be held on March 19, Sunday, but early voting began on Tuesday.
