Lithuanian Cabinet approves e-voting

  • 2010-05-18
  • Oskars Magone

The Cabinet endorsed a plan whereby voters would no longer have to be physically present in booths on election day.

VILNIUS - The Lithuanian government has approved a plan to implement online voting in the country despite a newly released report that found internet penetration in the country was well below the EU average.

"I am glad that we discussed this and approved e-voting for future validation. Now we will meet on Wednesday to talk about how to realise this,” said Gintautas Babravicius, the president of the Liberal and Centre Union.

The proposal would still have to be approved by Seimas (Lithuanian Parliament), before going into effect.

The move toward e-voting would see Lithuania follow in the footsteps of the northernmost Baltic State, Estonia, which boasted a the option to vote completely online in the previous electoral cycle.

The government announcement came on the same day that an EU report found Lithuania below average in terms of internet penetration.

The European Commission report found that corresponding to its low level of connectivity, Internet use by Lithuanian households also remains below average. At 43 percent Lithuania also has an above average proportion of the population that has never used the Internet. The report said that 50 percent of Lithuanians are regular users of the internet.

Despite the below average figures, the EC report noted that the situation has drastically improved over the past four years.