High turnout at Riga polling station points to long vote count

Staff at polling station No. 101, located in Riga's 85th primary school, say they expect the vote count to take considerably longer than usual because of high voter turnout.

According to the Central Election Commission, 1,401 people had voted at the station by 4 p.m., with 1,055 of them casting ballots on Saturday itself. Voting activity peaked before 2 p.m., and around noon queues formed outside the station, with ten to fifteen people waiting at a time. By around 5 p.m. the queues had disappeared, though voters kept arriving steadily.

Minor incident and voter questions

Station staff recalled one unusual episode: a voter initially refused to show identification at the entrance but later agreed to do so and was able to vote.

Several voters approached commission members with practical questions, such as whether the envelope needs to be sealed or how to correctly mark their choice on the ballot. In the preceding days, staff had fielded questions and some complaints about registration envelopes bearing voters' names, with some people worried this could reveal how they voted. Staff confirmed there were no issues with the voting systems themselves.

As previously reported, Latvia is holding elections to the 15th Saeima on Saturday, with polling stations across the country open until 8 p.m.