The minister suggests that parties should consider a different election model, which is similar to that in Estonia, Finland, and the pre-war scheme used in Lithuania. According to the system, Lithuania would consist of 10 electoral constituencies where parties would propose their separate lists, voters would vote for a single politician, and every constituency would elect a different number of parliamentarians, depending on the size of the population there.
Bernatonis told BNS the proposal was merely a guideline for the restructuring of the election system, adding that specific amendments would not be proposed, if main parliamentary parties reject the proposal.
He noted that the proposed reform was not his personal initiative but a scheme worked out by the electoral staff of the Social Democratic Party. Bernatonis said it was his task to coordinate the proposals with heads of other political parties.
"If there is no support, we will not draft the laws (…). This is merely one of the possible proposals but I don't think we have to hold on to the Soviet system, we don't have to necessarily stick to it only because the parliamentarians who were elected in the system find it good," he told BNS.
