Lithuanian Bar Association: essential message for residents, what you need to know about this referendum

This week, the citizens of Lithuania will express their opinion regarding the referendum aimed at amending Article 12 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania. The Lithuanian Bar Association draws the residents’ attention to the three most important points regarding this referendum. Firstly, the referendum ballot will not contain a direct question FOR or AGAINST dual citizenship, but will vote FOR or AGAINST the amendment of Article 12 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania. Secondly, after the referendum and approval of the proposed project, the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania will determine by special law who can and who cannot have more than one citizenship. Thirdly, in order for the referendum to take place, more than 50% of citizens with the right to vote must come to vote and at least 50% of citizens with the right to vote (at least 1,216,469 voters) must mark YES on the ballot.

According to Mindaugos Kukaitis, Chairman of the Bar Council, currently Article 12 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania states that no one can be a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania and another state at the same time, except in the individual cases provided for by law. This means that holding more than one citizenship is currently an exception and is granted separately. After the referendum and voting for the amendment, the exclusivity of granting more than one citizenship would be abandoned, and the conditions for granting citizens dual citizenship would be determined by the constitutional law adopted by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, i.e. adopted by a majority of at least 85 MPs out of 141.

In the draft database of legislative acts of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, a prepared draft of the constitutional law is registered, which states that “only the citizens of the countries that belong to the European Union and/or participate in the European Economic Area Agreement, as well as the countries that belong to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, can restore Lithuanian citizenship In the Treaty Organization (NATO) or countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The criteria of European and transatlantic integration are not met by those states that are simultaneously members of the allied states of Belarus and Russia, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or other various unions or commonwealths created on the basis of the former USSR.”

We also note that for the referendum to take place, more than 50% of eligible citizens (at least 1,216,469 voters) must come to vote and at least 50% of eligible citizens (at least 1,216,469 voters) must have a ballot mark YES.

Since participation in the referendum is exclusively the right of each person to make their own decisions, the Lithuanian Bar Association does not provide an opinion or a position on the voting itself, but with this report it seeks to draw the public’s attention to the legal meaning of the question formulated in the upcoming referendum. Link to the Referendum ballot.