Latvian voters store more than 87,000 ballots before parliament election

More than 87,000 voters deposited ballots for safekeeping in the first three days of advance voting for Latvia’s 15th Saeima election, LSM reported, citing Central Election Commission data.

The 87,105 ballots represent 5.59% of the country’s 1,557,615 eligible voters. With 4,907 applications to vote by post included, participation reached 5.64%, or nearly 88,000 voters.

Riga recorded more than 33,000 ballots deposited, equal to 8.41% of eligible voters there. Nearly 25,000 were deposited in Vidzeme, about 9,300 in Zemgale and around 8,300 in Kurzeme. Latgale had the lowest total, with at least 6,800.

Voters can still deposit ballots at any polling station on October 1 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and on October 2 from noon to 3 p.m. The election is on October 3. Voters may change their choice up to election day; only their latest ballot will count.

Latvia’s cybersecurity incident response institution Cert.lv reported no threats or cybersecurity incidents related to the election. It assessed the overall threat level in the country’s cyberspace as high, but said the situation was stable, with no significant changes or impact.