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Article 97
 



Filling a Vacant Seat in the Seimas


Upon the recognition of the lapse of the powers of a Seimas member, a vacancy occurs in the Seimas. It shall be filled in the following manner:


1) if the former Seimas member was elected in a single-member constituency, a by- election shall be organised in this constituency. The by-election must be held not later than within six months. The election shall not be held if the election date planned to be announced falls within the period when less than a year remains before the date of the next election to theSeimas, as counted in compliance with the Constitution. The Central Electoral Commission shall establish the concrete procedure for holding a by-election according to the requirements and terms established by this Law, taking into consideration the fact that the by-election are held in one of the single-member constituencies. When establishing the procedure for holding a by- election, the Central Electoral Commission cannot change the boundaries of a constituency. The citizens who permanently reside on the territory of a constituency or who have settled in a constituency and have declared the place of residence in this constituency according to the procedure laid down by the Law on Declaration of the Place of Residence and who are aged 18 or over on the day of a by-elections shall be additionally entered on the electoral roll of this constituency. The persons who have lost the right to vote as well as the citizens who have declared the place of residence not in territory of this constituency shall be removed from the electoral roll. The voting shall not be conducted abroad or on ships (with the exception of the case when the voters residing abroad or the crews of ships are entered on the electoral rolls of the constituency in which the by-election is to be held);








2) in a multi-member constituency the first candidate, who has not received the mandate of Seimas member, from the list of candidates according to which the former Seimas member was elected to the presently vacant seat shall become a Seimas member. If there are no candidates on this list of candidates who have not received mandates of Seimas member, the mandate of Seimas member shall be transferred to another list according to the sequence of the lists of candidates which was established after the election for the distribution of mandates by the method of remainders, that is to the list following the list which was the last to receive the mandate according to this sequence. So the first candidate, who has not received the mandate, on the list which has newly received a mandate shall become a Seimas member. The Central Electoral Commission must adopt the decision concerning recognition of the mandate of Seimas member for a new Seimas member not later than within seven days after the occurrence of a vacant seat in the Seimas.