Collection of voter signatures

1. In the cases laid down by this Code, the Central Electoral Commission, the constituency electoral committee or municipal electoral committee, as appropriate, shall, within three days of receipt of the application documents, issue to the political party, the political committee, the self-nominated candidate, or their election representative, the nominating petitions or adopt a reasoned decision on the refusal to issue them.

2. The nominating petition shall contain the following text: ‘I, as a voter, confirm my support for the list of candidates (names, surnames) nominated by the political party, political committee (name of the party or the committee), or the nominated (self-nominated) candidate (name, surname) for President of the Republic, Member of the Seimas, municipal councillor of (name of the municipality), mayor of (name of municipality), or Member of the European Parliament in the respective elections on (election date).’

3. The formal requirements for the nominating petition shall be established by the Central Electoral Commission.

4. The name and surname, the number of the passport/identity card/document confirming the right to permanent residence in the Republic of Lithuania, the address of the place of residence, the signature, and the date of the signature of the person who collected the voter signatures must be indicated at the bottom of the nominating petition.

5. On the nominating petition, the voter shall personally enter his or her name, surname, date of birth, number of the passport/identity card/document confirming the right to permanent residence in the Republic of Lithuania (for elections of municipal councillors, mayors and Members of the European Parliament), address, date, and signature.

6. Voters may support the candidate and/or list of candidates by their signatures electronically under the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission.

7. Where a voter is unable, for reasons of disability or for other reasons, to enter the necessary data on the nominating petition, a person other than the signature collector shall do so at the request of the voter concerned. In this case, an entry under the formal requirements established by the Central Electoral Commission shall be made in the nominating petition.

8. Upon the receipt of the nominating petition, a political party, a political committee, a nominee, and their election representative shall have the right to make the necessary media announcements and organise the collection of voter signatures.

9. Voter signatures shall be collected by persons eligible to vote. The person in charge of collecting voter signatures may collect signatures exclusively for a candidate and/or a list of candidates nominated by the same political party, exclusively for a candidate and/or a list of candidates nominated by the same political committee, or exclusively for one nominee.

10. The person in charge of collecting voter signatures shall be held liable for the collection of signatures under the procedure laid down in this Code. Bribing voters for support of a candidate’s nomination and/or nominated candidates, use of rewards, promises of rewards, use of threats in order to obtain support for a candidate and physical or electronic signatures, and other violations of the principle of the free will of the voters shall be prohibited.

11. The political party, the political committee, the nominee, or their election representative shall return nominating petitions at least 45 days before polling day to the electoral committee that had issued them. The nominating petitions shall be returned even where signature threshold required under this Code is not reached.