The Seimas started to amend the rules of elections to the EP: there would be one 5%. limit

Parliament on Sunday approved amendments to the Electoral Code to drop the higher 7% following being tabled. the same 5% would be applied to vote cartel coalitions and all lists. barrier.

After submission, 91 members of the Seimas voted for it, one was once morest and seven abstained. Next, the draft will be considered by the committees of the Seimas and it will return to the parliament hall for voting following consideration and adoption.

Seimas member Andrius Vyšniauskas, the head of the working group that prepared the Election Code, who presented the project, said that an oversight was made during the preparation of the code, which needs to be corrected before the European Parliament elections.

The Electoral Code is a constitutional law, so its amendments will require more votes than usual, that is, at least 85 parliamentarians must vote “for” the amendments, in addition, longer consideration periods are expected.

Currently, the Election Code stipulates that a list of candidates can receive mandates in the EP elections if at least 5% of voters voted for it. of voters who participated in the elections, and the combined or equivalent list of candidates – if at least 7 percent voted for it. voters who participated in the elections.

Amendments to the Electoral Code would apply a single 5 percent to lists drawn up by a single party or committee, as well as to joint lists. card. It would also be more clearly determined the procedure for distributing mandates not allocated according to electoral quotas.

The drfollowings of the amendments note that the decision of the Council of Europe on the EP election procedure provides that the member states of the European Union (EU) can set a limit of votes for the allocation of mandates, but it cannot exceed 5%. valid votes cast.

Politicians also pointed out that changing the Electoral Code is necessary for the implementation of the European Union legislation, so it can be changed during the election political campaign.

The amendments were prepared when several members of the opposition appealed to the Seimas board last week, calling for changes to the Election Code due to possible conflict with EU regulation.

One of the members of the Seimas who signed the appeal, Agnė Širinskienė, an elder of the Mixed Group, said that the working group that prepared the Election Code, of which she was also a member, sought to unify the rules for all elections in the country, but overlooked the European regulation.

The appeal to the board was also signed by the head of the Labor Party Andrius Mazuronis, representative of the Democratic Union “Vardan Lietuvos” Domas Griškevičius, member of the Lithuanian Peasants and Greens Union Guoda Burokienė and representative of the Lithuanian Polish Election Action-Union of Christian Families Rita Tamašunienė.

The European Parliament elections will be held on June 9.