This year, on October 3, the 15th Saeima elections will be held. Interested parties can already apply for perform in Riga election districts. After a month, teams of district workers will also start to be assembled in other municipalities. “360TV News” went to find out more.
Riga resident and lawyer Inga Vējiņa has just completed an application to work in the upcoming Saeima elections. She wants to be the chairperson of the commission in one of Riga’s districts. She is not intimidated by the negative experience of the previous municipal elections, when ballots had to be counted manually and written on stamped slips because the commission did not have any other large-format paper.
Election district commission chairperson candidate Inga Vējiņa says: “I will do my homework and prepare A3 sheets with boxes and fields for my commission to produce counting easier. I don’t understand what is planned, I don’t know what decisions have been made, what the funding will be.”
Not just anyone can work in an election commission – applicants must be citizens of Latvia with at least a general secondary education and proficiency in the Latvian language at least at the C1 level.
Central Election Commission Chairman Māris Zviedris explains: “Usually, to a large extent, the main thing is experience. Previous positive experience. That is, there have been no violations or errors found by observers.”
It’s worth noting that citizens are not rushing to apply for work in election commissions. For example, in Riga, it has been difficult to assemble staff for several elections in a row, and repeated applications have had to be announced. The situation normalized only after the pay was increased.
This year, the hourly rates for members of election commissions have been increased by 12.5%. The highest remuneration is planned for Riga election commissions. Their chairpersons will receive 17 euros per hour, the secretary – 15 euros, and a commission member – 12 euros per hour. In other municipalities, the hourly rate is one euro less.
A total of 6,000 workers will be employed in election commissions throughout Latvia. Their recruitment will continue until the end of May.
