The European Parliament elections in early June do not coincide with any other vote in Lithuania, unlike before, meaning that voter turnout can be abysmally low. The last time it happened 15 years ago, only one in five eligible voters came to the polls.
Lina Petronienė, chairwoman of Lithuania’s Central Electoral Commission, is optimistic, however, saying there are factors that can energise the voters.
“I think the European Parliament is a little closer to the voter now than it was in 2009,” Petronienė told a press conference on Tuesday. “I would say the situation has definitely changed somewhat since 2009. Maybe MEPs are working more or European Parliament offices, but there is definitely more information about the European Parliament’s activities and the European Union.”
Almost all previous European Parliament elections coincided with Lithuania’s presidential vote. The only exception was 2009 when the turnout was only 21 percent.
Meanwhile, the 2019 EP election had a turnout of 53.37 percent, with voters casting ballots for their MEPs and the president on the same day.
The Central Electoral Commission chief also expects the political parties running for the EP to be more active in urging voters to come to the ballot.
Meanwhile, Rima Urbonaitė, a political scientist from Mykolas Romeris University in Vilnius, says she does not have much optimism about voter turnout during the EP elections, adding that voters are starting to get into a holiday mood in late May, which can be distracting.
Also attending the press conference, Delphine Kolard, head of the EP spokesperson's office, said the upcoming EP election would take place under exceptional circumstances, including the ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine, the deteriorating situation in Gaza, and people’s concern about the economic situation.
“The upcoming European elections are a kind of make-or-break moment. They come at the moment where we need to define what type of direction we will be taking for key legislative or policy areas but also if Europe moves backwards or forward and also paves the way for enlargement, for example, for Ukraine or not,” she said.
Nineteen political parties registered to run for the European Parliament by Monday. While electoral committees can also run their lists, none registered for this election.
Ten political parties – those that did not run for EP in 2019 – still need to collect 10,000 voter signatures by April 25. The full number of candidates will be known in early May.
The EP elections in EU member states will take place on June 6-9. Lithuania will elect 11 MEPs for a five-year term on Sunday, June 9.
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