The average Lithuanian candidate standing for election to the European Parliament in June is a 51-year-old married man with more than 210,000 euros in assets, the Central Electoral Commission (VRK) revealed on Wednesday after collecting data on registered candidates.
The VRK says 319 candidates were registered to run for 11 seats in the European Parliament. One candidate has been refused registration. Compared to the 2019 election, the number of candidates has gone up from 301.
More male candidates
This year, 200 men and 119 women want to become Lithuania’s MEPs.
The Lithuanian Green Party has an all-female list with 22 candidates, while the National Alliance has the highest number of men, 19. Two parties, Democrats “For Lithuania” and the Lithuanian Regions Party, have equal numbers of male and female candidates on their list, 11.
According to the VRK, the average age of candidates on the election day will be 51 years and 1 month. Five years ago, the average age was 51 years and 3 months. The eldest candidate will be 78 years and 9 months old, while the youngest will be 23 years and 10 months old.
Six millionaires
Six millionaires – candidates with declared assets in excess of one million euros – are standing for election to the EP. The richest candidate is on the Labor Party’s list, and two millionaires are running with the Freedom and Justice Party. The Lithuanian Social Democratic Party, the Liberal Movement, and the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union each have one millionaire on their candidate lists.
The total value of assets owned by all the candidates amounts to almost 67.5 million euros.
Twenty candidates have stated they have no assets at all.
Seven candidates with convictions
According to the VRK, seven people with previous convictions are vying for EP seats. There were six such candidates in 2019.
When submitting their documents, 282 candidates indicated that they could speak English, 265 could speak Russian, 74 could speak Polish, 72 could speak German, and 33 could speak French. Most candidates indicated that they spoke more than one foreign language.
Candidates give details of their command of foreign languages in their CVs. The VRK notes it is not obliged to verify if the information they give is accurate.
Two-thirds of the candidates, 214, have stated in their CVs that they are married, 52 said they are single or unmarried, and 42 have indicated that they are divorced. Six candidates are widowed and five candidates have indicated that they are in a partnership.
Lithuanians will elect their 11 MEPs on June 9.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
