Lithuania's election authority announces EP voting results

BNS

 

Lithuania's Central Electoral Committee Sunday officially announced the results of the elections to the European Parliament (EP) held a week ago.

 

The victory of Lithuania's EP vote went to the ruling Homeland Union - Lithuanian Christian Democrats that bagged 26.16 percent of all votes. The conservative party will receive four mandates - the party's delegates in the EP will include Vytautas Landsbergis and Laima Liucija Andrikiene for the second consecutive term, as well as Algirdas Saudargas and Radvile Morkunaite.

 

The opposition Lithuanian Social Democratic Party was supported by 18.12 percent of voters - a result yielding three mandates in the new EP. The party will send MEP Justas Vincas Paleckis to Brussels for the second term, while MPs Vilija Blinkeviciute and Zigmantas Balcytis will serve their first tenures.

 

The third runner-up, Order and Justice Party, got 11.92 pct of the vote, with two ensuing MEP mandates - the party's leader Rolandas Paksas and Vilnius' ex-mayor Juozas Imbrasas.

 

One mandate will go to the Labor Party with 8.56 percent of the vote (its delegate will be the party's leader Viktor Uspaskich), the Lithuanian Poles' Election Action (8.21 percent, potential delegate Valdemar Tomasevski) and the Liberal Movement (7.17 percent, potential delegate philosopher Leonidas Donskis).

 

None of the other hopefuls in the EP elections got passed the required five percent threshold for getting MEP mandates: the Liberal and Center Union got 3.38 percent of the vote, the Lithuanian Center Union was supported by 3.01 percent of voters, the Christian Conservative Social Union by 2.85 percent, the Front Party by 2.36 percent, the Lithuanian Farmers' National Union by 1.82 percent, the Civil Democracy Union by 1.31 percent, the Samogitian Union by 1.23 percent, the National Resurrection Party by 1.01 percent and the national union Way of Lithuania by 0.28 percent of voters.

 

The elections were marked with record-low voter turnout, with the figure at a mere 20.98 percent, as compared with 51.76 of voters who came to polling stations for presidential elections a month ago and the 48.38 percent of voters who cast ballots in Lithuania's first EP elections in 2004.

 

16-06-2009

 

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