LITHUANIA: ELECTORAL OFFICIALS IN LITHUANIA SAY CONTROVERSIAL PRIVATISATION REFERENDUM WILL BE DECLARED INVALID BECAUSE NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE VOTED

Record ID: 646248

  • Title: LITHUANIA: ELECTORAL OFFICIALS IN LITHUANIA SAY CONTROVERSIAL PRIVATISATION REFERENDUM WILL BE DECLARED INVALID BECAUSE NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE VOTED
  • Date: 27th August 1994
  • Summary: VILNIUS, LITHUANIA (AUGUST 27, 1994) 1. GV VILNIUS 0.04 2. LV EXTERIOR POLLING STATION/ SIGN ADVERTISING REFERENDUM (2 SHOTS) 0.11 3. SLV/ SCU VOTING PAPERS BEING TIPPED OUT OF BALLOT BOX AND SORTED (6 SHOTS) 0.59 4. SV ELECTORAL COMMISSION CHAIRMAN ZENONAS VAIZAUSKAS SAYING LESS THAN 35 PER CENT VOTED MAKING THE POLL INVALID (RUSSIAN) 1.18 5. SV/CU RESULTS BEING PROCESSED BY COMPUTER (4 SHOTS) 1.44 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 11th September 1994 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: VILNIUS, LITHUANIA
  • City:
  • Country: EUROPE Lithuania
  • Reuters ID: LVA9DGB8DIQHSOXLPJIXLZ5KHFYP
  • Story Text: Electoral officials in Lithuania said on Saturday night (August 27) that a controversial privatisation referendum would be declared invalid because not enough people had voted.

    Electoral commission chairman Zenonas Vaizauskas said only about 800,000 people had voted out of a population of 2.5 million, falling just short of the 35 per cent of Lithuania's population required to make the poll valid.

    Of the 27-28 per cent of the electorate who had voted, Vaizauskas said, preliminary results showed 34 per cent voted in favour of the opposition's proposed law on privatisation.

    The referendum was initiated by the opposition Conservative party and designed to support its measures to counter the damage caused by the government's current privatisation programme.

    The proposed law calls for compensation for savings lost as a result of inflation.

    The opposition Conservative party, headed by Vitautas Landsbergis, formerly the country's first president, managed to collect the number of signatures necessary to call for a nation-wide referendum but the lack of votes will make the referendum itself invalid.

    Lithuania's ruling Democratic party and its leader Algirdas Brazauskas sharply criticised the referendum.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register