„This is such a convulsion of people, and attributing what does not exist,“ Asanavičiūtė commented to the news portal Lrytas.
On Thursday, the coalition partners Libertarians appealed to the Chief Election Commission (VRK), claiming that they had evidence that on Sunday it was planned to organise a transport of permanent residents of Lithuania to the Seinai to vote for the Conservative Asanavičiūtė.
The Freedom Party pointed out that after the first round, social networks showed calls by Audronė Bielinienė, an employee of the Seimas Chancellery, urging Asanavičiūtė's supporters to go to Seinai to vote. Immediately afterwards, the number of permanent residents of Lithuania who registered to vote at the Seinai consulate reportedly started to increase.
According to the report, about 50 people voted in Seinai in the first round of the elections. According to the Freedom Party, at least 20 people directly linked to the TS-LKD candidate are registered to vote, which is growing daily.
Among those registered are members of the Seimas, assistants to members of the Seimas, employees of the Seimas clerk's office, the candidates of the Homeland Union for the Seimas, spouses and children of these persons, and other persons directly linked to the party and the candidate.
Asanavičiūtė: convulsion of people
Asanavičiūtė herself told the news portal Lrytas that she had seen a now-deleted Facebook post by a former employee of the Seimas clerk's office urging people to vote for her in Seinai. However, Asanavičiūtė stressed that she had neither asked for it nor organised it herself.
According to Ms Asanavičiūtė, the person who wrote the Facebook post is neither a co-party member nor an advisor. „I am certainly not organising anything – especially not transport when I will be in Dublin,“ Asanavičiūtė said.
The Conservative said she was not surprised by the actions of her coalition partners against her during this election campaign.
„This is such a convulsion of people, and attributing things that are not there – I can also attribute such things to them; I can attribute driving, planning and doing. If they call, people do it of their own free will; if they organise, they do it of their own free will. I certainly do not go, I do not ask, and I do not organise – especially not for a lift.
I am sorry, but whether people think of doing something is not my responsibility.
And the Freedom Party is now grasping at the last straw and creating scandals where there are none. I don't have anything to say – it seems absurd to me,“ the politician said.
„It's no longer ugly – it's becoming a dirty fight“, she added.
Asanavičiūtė calculated that the additional 20 people who, according to the Freedom Party, are connected to the politician and have registered to vote in Seinai will not affect the outcome of the elections.
„I can't ban people from going to vote if they want to, but 20 people, if they think that they will change the election result, she (Aušrinė Armonaitė) wins by a margin of 170–180 votes.
So, 20 people probably won't make a difference either,“ the MEP said.