So far 27 181 or 1.76% of registered voters in Latvia have used the opportunity to vote early in the 14th Saeima elections, according to information from the Central Election Commission (CVK).
On Monday, 26 September, 11 316 voters used the option to hand in their votes for storage and on Thursday, 29 September, this option was used by 15 865 voters.
For comparison: in 13th Saeima elections four years ago this right was used by 15 085 or 0.97% of registered voters.
The option to vote early will remain open between 10:00 a.m. and 16:00 p.m. on 30 September.
At the same time, CVK invites voters to plan their attendance on Saturday, 1 October.
There are 1 542 407 citizens with voting rights registered in Latvia for the 14th Saeima elections.
Because it is possible to vote early only in some election sites among all 949 election sites available in the country, it is expected queues may form on Friday. There are 20 election sites in Riga, two each in Daugavpils, Liepaja, Ogre and Valmiera. All remaining municipalities have one election site each.
Early Saeima elections are called vote storage option because it does not happen at all election sites, as it does with election in advance. Ballots are stored in an extra envelope. This allows voters to withdraw their vote and vote again on Election Day.
This solution was introduced to ensure early election does not contradict the Constitution, which states Saeima elections are to be held on the first Saturday of October.