Ensuring free and democratic elections is one of the priorities of the work of the National Security Service (VD). . In the run-up to the Riga City Council's emergency elections, The VDD calls on the residents to report to the services responsible in the event of illegal or suspicious activity in connection with the elections.
During the pre-election period, THE VDD has been taking measures to identify and eliminate risks in a timely manner that may influence the free and democratic conduct of the Riga City Council elections. . The competence of the WDD as a counterintelligence and internal security service covers both the identification and mitigation of foreign and internal threats.
Currently, The VDD has not obtained information on direct and systematic foreign efforts to influence the conduct of the emergency elections of the Rīga City Council. . Nor does the VDD have any information about possible purchases of votes or preparations for such actions.
The VDD recalls that there is criminal responsibility to exercise freely the right to vote Members or to be elected. . Action shall be considered illegal if the failure to exercise freely the right to wish has occurred through the use of violence, lies, threats, bribery or other illegal means. The Criminal Law also establishes responsibility for the deliberate misrepresentation of votes, as well as for the deliberate violation of a secret vote committed by a public official or a member of the electoral commission.
The VDD calls on citizens to report on cases where a vote for the benefit of a party or a candidate for a Member is promised to pay, promised other materials and non-material benefits or otherwise affected by free choice. . The VDD also calls for information on cases of suspected irregularities in polling station work, such as the deliberate incorrect addition of votes in favour of a party or a candidate for a Member. Information on potential irregularities can be transmitted to The VDD by calling 67208964 or by writing dd@vdd.gov.lv.
The VDD calls on citizens who have become witnesses of an alleged infringement to record, as far as possible, the most accurate details of what has happened, if possible, to carry out a photo, video or audio recording of the alleged infringement. . The VDD guarantees the confidentiality of the information source.
On the other hand, whether the procedures for pre-election campaign and the rules for the deployment of the materials of the campaign are observed will be monitored by the State Police and the Riga Municipal Police. . Accordingly, if citizens have information on flyers circulating on the election day, on non-removed pre-election ads or polling at the polls, we shall call for an appeal to the State Police (110) or the Rīga municipal police. It is recalled that the campaign is prohibited not only on the election day itself, but also on the day before the elections.
In cases where there is information on the failure to comply with the restrictions on the financing of pre-election campaign and the hidden pre-election campaign, we call for this to be reported to the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau by calling telephone No. .67356161 or via the “Reporting CPCB” mobile application.
On the other hand, in cases where there are alleged violations of the pre-election campaign in the media, such as a hidden pre-election campaign, we call for contact with the National Electronic Media Board by calling phone No. .67221848 or by e-mail address neplpadome@neplpadome.lv.
Information prepared by: VDD