Vote-buying allegations emerge in Lithuania elections

VILNIUS - Official election bodies have uncovered dozens of instances of vote buying on the first day of early voting in Lithuania's municipal elections.

"We saw about 60 to 80 intellectually disabled people acting suspiciously and we suspected that they might have been especially brought to the polling station. We noticed that they had sample ballots in their pockets showing the number and party to vote for. According to these samples they tried to fill in ballot papers and vote, " Elena Skirmantiene, Chairwoman of the Kaunas Municipal Election Commission, was quoted as saying by lrytas.lt.

The people reportedly almost all voted for the Social Democratic party, with preference given to two particular candidates from Kaunas. The people were allegedly paid 10 Litas for their vote.