A special leave of absence has been granted to the German soldiers stationed in Lithuania, allowing them to return to Germany to cast their vote in the upcoming federal election. The decision was made after some soldiers reported that their voting materials had arrived too late to be returned in time, according to the German news magazine Spiegel.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence confirmed that the commander of the Operations Command had ordered the affected personnel to take a leave of absence this week in order to exercise their right to vote. The exact number of the approximately 1,000 German soldiers in Lithuania affected by the measure was not disclosed. However, it was noted that the soldiers would have to cover their own travel costs to return to Germany.
Germany currently has a military presence of 951 soldiers in Lithuania, with the multinational Battle Group Lithuania stationed in Rukla. In addition, a buildup team for the German Lithuania Brigade is stationed in Vilnius and is planning the permanent stationing of a German combat brigade.
The sudden measure for the soldiers in Lithuania illustrates the massive problems faced by German expatriates in casting their vote in the upcoming federal election. Due to the short timeframes for requesting and returning the voting materials, many German expatriates will not have the opportunity to vote this year.
The German military had previously planned the voting process for its soldiers in the field with great effort. At the field post office in Darmstadt, voting materials were collected from soldiers in the field and then flown to their deployment locations with special couriers after the deadline of February 16 and then back to Germany after the vote. The aim was to ensure that all soldiers could complete their voting materials in time.