“Communities of Lithuanians living abroad are very big and we can see a tendency that Lithuanians abroad are more active in voting. For example, 60 640 Lithuanians abroad registered to vote. Meanwhile in 2014 only 15 744 people registered to vote”, says Simonas Gentvilas who initiated the resolution.
The growing number of voter abroad, according to him, shows that Lithuanians that choose to live abroad still want to keep contact with the country.
“We have to put all efforts we can to keep relations with people that were born here but decided to live abroad. Although the referendum for the dual citizenship did not succeed, the active voting showed that people still care about Lithuanian and want to keep contact with the country”, adds liberal Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen.
In the latest Parliament election, Lithuanians who voted abroad were held as a part of Vilnius Naujamiestis district. 46 percent voters in this district lived abroad.
