Referendum on preservation of citizenship: what is important for Lithuanians living abroad to know?

“According to the currently valid Constitution and laws of the Republic of Lithuania, such citizens of our country lose their citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania. True, the children of such people, born abroad, according to the current citizenship law, can have the citizenship of both Lithuania and the country where they were born, the lawyer explains.

– The Citizenship Law of the Republic of Lithuania already provides for 11 exceptions for retaining the citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania or for foreigners to acquire Lithuanian citizenship and preserve the citizenship of their home country. Due to one or another legal and historical reasons, there is a group of LR citizens who left Lithuania after 1990, who, after acquiring the citizenship of another country, lose their LR citizenship. It is disappointing, because this is a group of citizens who are very actively participating in the life of Lithuania, and the situation itself is discriminatory, because Lithuanian citizens or their children and grandchildren who emigrated during the occupation preserve or can restore the Lithuanian citizenship of their parents or grandparents.”

Although the traditional voting places for Lithuanians living abroad are our country’s embassies and consulates, you can cast your vote in every election by voting by mail. After all, Lithuanians are scattered around the world, not all of them live close to embassies, and not all of them can come there on the day of voting, sometimes the nearest Lithuanian representation can be thousands of kilometers away.

“All citizens of the Republic of Lithuania living abroad can vote by mail. You just need to register on the website rinkejopuslapis.lt. By the way, you can register there in order to vote in all elections at once – for the President, the EU Parliament, as well as speaking out in the Referendum on the preservation of citizenship”, – says J. Bružas about the possibility of fulfilling one’s civic duty.

He says that after registering there, LR embassies, which are assigned the territories where those voters lived, send ballots, and people can vote by mail.

“I want to be happy that Lithuania takes exceptional care of its citizens and makes it easier for them to fulfill their civic duty to participate in elections – not only is it possible to vote by mail, but postal costs are also paid for by the Republic of Lithuania. This is a rather unique phenomenon, if we compare it with the practice of other countries, when the opportunity to vote is usually provided only in the representative offices of that country. This is not only an opportunity created for this referendum, it has been like this until now, and this procedure has been applied for voting in other elections for a long time,” reminds J. Bružas.

It is true that not all countries have the same quality and speed of mail. That is why the interviewer recommends not to delay and to register on the voter’s page only when there is a possibility – in the case of this referendum, it was possible to register since the end of last year.

“Depending on the country where a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania lives, there are specified dates by which you need to register to vote by mail. It is precisely because of the characteristics of the post offices of different countries that those terms are different. However, you should be registered by the end of April,” he explains.

Even those citizens of the Republic of Lithuania who did not register in advance on the voter’s page can come to the embassies or consulates of the Republic of Lithuania with a passport or identity card, register and vote there. Citizens of the Republic of Lithuania visiting foreign countries on election day can vote in Lithuanian embassies and consulates, not only citizens living in that country.

“True, voting will take place in embassies and consulates only on the day of voting. In some countries, such as the USA, where there is a large and widespread Lithuanian community (for example, in Chicago), the Consulate General in Chicago organizes elections outside the premises of the consulate. Election commissions come with ballot boxes to the World Lithuanian Center in Lemont (a suburb far from Chicago, where a large Lithuanian community lives, and you can vote there),” J. Bružas reminds of another convenient opportunity.

The exact list of places can be found on the websites of the Lithuanian embassy or consulate of your country of residence or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania.

Speaking about the activity of expatriate Lithuanians in the elections, Mr. Bružas says that he notices that the involvement in the life of Lithuania among foreign Lithuanians is increasing, the desire to vote shows this:

“The number of people who have already registered today compared to the same registration period in 2019 has obviously increased. I hope this shows the growing interest of foreign Lithuanians to participate in Lithuanian life.”

According to the interviewee, lower activity in previous years could also be due to lack of information. This time, information dissemination and communication about the referendum started earlier. Therefore, in his opinion, it is very important not to stop and continue to actively share all the means about the opportunity to participate in the elections.

“When I talk to Lithuanians living abroad, it often becomes clear to me that some people, who have the citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania, but do not live in the country, feel that they have no right to decide the affairs of Lithuania. This is not the case, – J. Bružas dispels a popular myth. – We all care about the affairs of Lithuania, and through the World Lithuanian Communities, Lithuania has hundreds of thousands of ambassadors of the country, who spread good news about Lithuania and their views on various Lithuanian and international issues.

May 12 of this year. the referendum will vote on the preservation of citizenship, which would be defined by a new constitutional law on citizenship: the draft of this law provides that citizenship would be preserved only for citizens of the Republic of Lithuania who have acquired only those countries that meet certain requirements for partnership with Lithuania and security (e.g. NATO, EU, OECD) .

“However, everyone who lives in Lithuania, as well as those citizens of the Republic of Lithuania who live in countries that do not fall under that definition, are invited to vote. It is not a good situation that we have to divide the countries where citizens of the Republic of Lithuania can keep their citizenship, and those where they cannot. However, today’s threatening geopolitical situation in the world is such that it is necessary to look at everything very carefully and ensure Lithuania’s security as much as possible”, regrets J. Bružas.

But despite such realities, he is convinced that Lithuanians from all over the world will participate in the referendum, because the prevailing understanding in Lithuanian communities is that it is important for all citizens to participate in the elections.

“I think that those Lithuanians who live in countries that do not fall under the definition of planned countries will also vote for solidarity, because in the future their country may be included in the group of countries where the citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania can be preserved, by the decision of the Seimas, by changing the constitutional law on citizenship. depending on the circumstances,” hopes the chairman of the World Lithuanian Community and the Lithuanian Seimas Commission.

“After leaving Lithuania, the ties with the homeland are not broken, the whole way of thinking and life is not changed. Attachment to the hometown remains very strong, ties with family and friends are maintained. An emigrant usually does not immerse himself in the realities of only one country, most of them live in the current affairs of two countries, and a larger part of their heart belongs to Lithuania”, – says J. Bružas about another reason why he expects the active participation of all Lithuanians in the elections.

He regrets that many people still think that they can stay at home and somehow someone will still vote.

“I think that all those who think that the amendment of the article of the Constitution is their issue, who care about it, should not expect that someone else will decide. Everyone has to make an effort, because every vote is counted and has meaning, so let’s not only go to vote ourselves, but also bring our families and friends”, says J. Bružas.