In a letter to the Saeima Public Administration and Local Government Committee, Riga municipal election commission voices concerns about the risk of potentially failing to meet the deadline for the printing of ballots and their delivery to polling stations for next year’s planned municipal elections.
The election commission turns attention to the fact that proposals for amendments to Law on the Election of Local Government Councils lists additional duties for municipal commissions. This means their implementation will require more work. “It should be noted that the same works ordered in a shorter time frame are usually more expensive than in the longer term, so that works commissioned in a shorter time can also make the ballot paper maker and sorting offer more expensive,” says the Riga election commission.
As a result of the procurement procedure, it takes about six weeks for a selected company to print ballot papers and assemble them from the moment of receipt of information to delivery to four places in Riga. The election commission is required to check and receive information from other state institutions on the eligibility of candidates for deputies from one to three weeks.
The backed proposal for a change in pre-election working hours, according to the Election Commission, necessitates the delivery of ballot papers one week earlier. In some days, it is difficult to fully deliver and hand over sets of ballot papers to 158 polling stations, according to the Riga Election Commission.
The Election Commission is calling for a change in the regulation by requiring local governments over 100 000 eligible voters to submit lists of candidates starting on the 89th day before Election Day, but no later than 78 days before Election Day, and in municipalities up to 100 000 eligible voters from the 80th day before Election Day, but no later than 60 days before Election Day.
Currently, the law requires lists of candidates to be submitted starting on the 80th day before Election Day, but no later than 60 days before Election Day.