E-mail:
Password:
Free guest access

Send a comment to editor

Head of Central Election Commission to step down
Your name:
E-mail:
Comment:
Security Code:
To refresh the security code, click on it
Enter the code here:
    In the Regions - News

    Head of Central Election Commission to step down

    RIGA, June 11 (LETA) - Kristine Saulite, the Chair of the Central Election Commission (CVK), will resign from her position, she announced on Wednesday at a meeting of the Saeima's State Administration and Local Government Committee.

    The Committee is evaluating these past municipal elections, which were marred by technical problems.

    As reported, the counting of votes in the 2025 municipal elections faced technical problems on Saturday and overnight on Sunday. Polling stations also faced technical problems during the week of advance voting.

    President Edgars Rinkevics said earlier that the CVK and the State Digital Development Agency (VDAA) had failed in organizing local elections. In his opinion, the Saeima and the government should evaluate the work of these institutions and the responsibility of their officials.

    At the moment, an inter-institutional task force has not launched a probe into the problems with the vote counting, as it initially needs to gather all the necessary and available information on what happened, Raivis Kronbergs, director of the State Chancellery, told members of the press on Monday.

    In the meantime, Smart Administration and Regional Development Minister Inga Berzina (New Unity) has suspended the State Digital Development Agency's Director Jorens Liopa from his job.

    "It is not for me to judge the minister's actions," said Liopa later, answering a question whether he thought the minister had acted rashly.

    He said that until last week there was "such confidence" that everything would work properly because there was no indication that anything could go wrong.

    Meanwhile, the Digital Development Agency has launched an in-depth probe into the reasons for the slow scanning of ballots, which will look into the agency's employees directly responsible for the election system to the developers and auditors, the agency's senior official Agnese Tkacenko told LETA.

    Saulite said earlier that the CVK had done everything to ensure a successful election. She said that "if there had been the slightest indication that the systems were not ready, or that something might not work in some way, then those in charge would have been ready to take the decision to count the votes manually right away".

    She also pointed out that there was no doubt about the veracity of the election results. "The truth is that the elections have taken place, the results have been compiled and they are correct," Saulite said.

    • Published: 11.06.2025 10:36
    • Oskars Rekšņa, LETA
    •  
    • © Without the prior written consent of LETA, any republication of this news text, in whole or in part, or any other use thereof in mass media or on internet websites, is strictly prohibited. Furthermore, the reproduction of lawfully accessible works for the purposes of text and data mining, within the meaning of the Copyright Law, is prohibited.
    • All
    • News
    • Press Releases
    • Photo

    Weather

    Riga, Latvia - 6. June 01:51

    16 °C
    • Wind: 3.08 m/s
    • Wind Direction: ESE
    • Atmospheric pressure: 1011 hPa
    • Relative humidity: 97%
    • Overcast clouds

    SIGN UP TO RECEIVE NEWS BY E-MAIL