At midnight, it was still unclear if the nuclear power plant referendum was valid.
It is not known yet if enough registered voters participated in Sunday's referendum on a new nuclear power plant in Lithuania for it to be valid, Zenonas Vaigauskas, the chairman of the Central Electoral Commission, said at midnight.
With votes having been counted in around one-fourth of polling districts, the results show that the voter turn-out was too low, but the situation may change after the results from major cities and towns come in, he said.
"As to the referendum, the intrigue remains. At the moment, we see a decline in voter turn-out. We don't have 50 percent (of voters) in those districts where results are available, but we don't have voter numbers from Vilnius and Kaunas, where turn-out is much higher," Vaigauskas said at a news conference.
Sixty percent of voters in 473 out of 2,017 polling districts voted "no" to building a new nuclear power plant. The average voter turn-out in those districts is 48.86 percent.
In the non-binding referendum, which was held in tandem with Lithuania's general elections, voters were asked to respond "yes" or "no" to the statement, "I support the construction of a new nuclear power plant in the Republic of Lithuania."
The result of a non-binding referendum is valid if more than 50 percent of eligible voters come to the polls. If more than half of voters take part and at least half of those participating vote in favor of a certain decision, that decision is deemed as having been adopted. If less than half voters take part, it is deemed that the referendum has not taken place, but legislators may consider voters' opinion during their deliberations.
