Expatriate Lithuanians will elect their representative in a separate electoral constituency in next year's general election, the country's Central Electoral Commission decided unanimously on Tuesday.

The commission's chair Laura Matjošaitytė says the decision to set up a separate single-member constituency for Lithuanian voters who live abroad means that electoral districts will have to be redrawn so that the country is divided into 70 single-member constituencies instead of 71 as is now the case.

The Central Electoral Commission said it was swayed the active expatriate vote in this year's European Parliament and presidential elections.

In August, the Lithuanian parliament, Seimas, passed a motion to establish a special single-member constituency for citizens voting from abroad, if in the previous election voter turnout at the country's embassies and consular offices reaches 90 percent of the average constituency size.

Currently, the expatriate vote is added to the Naujamiestis district in Vilnius.