Next week, the voters will vote not only for the president, but also a referendum on the preservation of citizenship, according to advertisements that have recently appeared everywhere.
It will be decided whether Lithuanians, who have accepted the citizenship of another country friendly to Lithuania, can also retain the citizenship of Lithuania. In order for the referendum to take place, more than half of Lithuanian citizens with the right to vote should gather at the ballot boxes.
“The chances of that referendum taking place are not very high,” sociologist Valdas Gaidys, head of Vilmorus, told LNK news.
This referendum costs the state millions, but there is little effort to ensure that this money does not go down the drain, and that the people actually express their vote “for” or “against”.
“For this you need to work, you need to speak and tell, to say something emotionally. And there is not even a trace of that,” sociologist V. Gaidys explained his position.
Dalia Asanavičiūtė, a member of the Seimas and representative of the ruling Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD), told LNK news that it was agreed in the parliament that a referendum should be held.
“Because this is the way to solve the issue of our citizens. However, I see the involvement of politicians and parties rather slowly,” said the MP.
The ruling Freedom Party tried to get involved, they published an agitation on the social network with a burning baby, saying that the referendum was more important to his mother than him. True, after that the liberals themselves, as they called it, had to “put out the fire” – this photo was removed.
However, it seems that those for whom the issue of preserving citizenship is the most relevant, the referendum is not too worried.
“Currently there are about 55 thousand of registered Lithuanian citizens who are currently either away, or on vacation, or living abroad”, Dalia Henke, chairperson of the World Lithuanian Community, presented to LNK.
This means that only about a sixth of all Lithuanians living abroad intend to vote in the referendum at the moment.
“55 thousand is a very beautiful and large number. But, of course, according to the CEC data, it is estimated that over 300 thousand Lithuanian citizens who have the right to vote live abroad. It could be more,” said D. Henke.
It is said to campaign more actively, just a month before the referendum, it was decided so that the relevance would not fade.
“Leave it all to itself, or to the last period… Well, we have to understand that there is only one week left. Will a week be enough for the people to clarify what has not been done since November, when it was announced that the referendum would take place. In my opinion, it’s definitely not,” said communication expert Berta Čaikauskaitė.
Conservator D. Asanavičiūtė told LNK news that she has a rather positive assessment of the communication about the referendum.
“And now right before the referendum, since Easter, that information is available,” she said.
According to sociologist V. Gaidis, one gets the impression that the referendum is not about the result, but about a “tick” for the work done. And at the same time, it reminds us of the referendum on joining the EU. It is true that in order for people to come to the polls, it was necessary to use methods that are hard to imagine now.
“The referendum was held for two days, and on Saturday few people came, it already seemed that the referendum had failed. But then, on Sunday, those supermarket chains turned on and offered beer, chocolate or washing powder for coming,” said V. Gaidys.
And the wording of the question was much simpler that time than it is now.
“There really aren’t many people who are both politically and legally literate and aware.” But even for those who are literate and aware, that information is as vague as the wording. A simple human interpretation is sorely lacking,” communication expert B. Čaikauskaitė presented her assessment of the situation.
Voters will be asked whether they support the amendment of Article 12 of the Constitution, which would read as follows: Citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania is acquired at birth and on other grounds and procedures established by the constitutional law. The Constitutional Law also establishes the grounds and procedure for the loss of citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania.
Vilnius residents interviewed by LNK news openly said that the wording is extremely unclear. Simply put, the population is asked whether they support the amendment of the Constitution itself, but the actual law on how the Constitution will be amended does not yet exist. The Seimas would vote on it in a referendum.
“There is a high probability that when they come to the ballot boxes, they will look and either vote completely spontaneously, or they will not vote at all,” said the communication expert.
Parliamentarian D. Asanavičiūtė said that many expect the wording “do you support the preservation of citizenship, dual citizenship”.
“Well, this kind of wording simply cannot legally exist, because we have to change Article 12 of the Constitution. Naturally, it is impossible for everyone to understand,” she said.
Even if more than half of all voters turn out to vote, to allow the preservation of dual citizenship at least half of them, which is about 1.2 million voters, would have to vote in favor.
A referendum on the same issue was held earlier, but there were not enough votes.
See the full LNK news report here:
Tags: information upcoming referendum missing
