At stake in this election:

• Constitutional amendments that would prohibit the sale of land to foreigners in Lithuania and establish a new procedure for proposing constitutional amendments[1]

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Dalia GRYBAUSKAITE[2]
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Algirdas BUTKEVICIUS
• Assembly: Lithuania has a unicameral Parliament (Seimas) with 141 seats.

Main Provisions in the Referendum:

• To prohibit the sale of land in Lithuania to foreigners
  • ​Result: Ballot measure failed.  
• A motion to alter or supplement the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania may be submitted to the Seimas by a group of not less than 1/4 of all the Members of the Seimas, or not less than by 100,000 voters**
  • ​​Result: Ballot measure failed.  

Electoral Requirements:

• Over 50 percent turnout is needed and more than half of the citizens, having the right to vote and having been registered on electoral rolls must approve proposed measure.[3]  
• A motion to alter or supplement the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania may be submitted to the Seimas by a group of not less than 1/4 of all the Members of the Seimas or not less than by 300,000 voters

Election Note:

• The referendum vote will take place on 29 June 2014.[4] When Lithuania joined the European Union (EU) in 2004, the government promised to end the country’s ban on foreigners wanting to purchase land.[5] The EU and Lithuania agreed to a transitional period that allowed the ban to remain in place until May 2011 and was extended to May 2014.[6] But supporters of the ban want to keep it in place.  They were able to collect 300,000 signatures needed to call a vote.[7] The Lithuanian Nationalist Union and the Lithuanian Peasant and Green’s Union all supported the referendum effort.[8] It should be noted that two-thirds of Lithuanians are opposed to selling land to foreigners.[9] If the measure passes, the European Court of Justice could fine Lithuania and funding from the EU could be terminated.

Population and Voter Registration:

• Population: 2,944,459 (January 2014)
• Registered Voters: 2,554,532 (May 2014)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 1,582,061 (2014)

·         Is Lithuania a signatory to CEDAW: N/A

·         Has Lithuania ratified CEDAW: Yes, accession (18 January 1994)

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Female candidates in this election: N/A

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 34 (following the 2012 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 37 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Low (2014)

Disability Data:

·         Is Lithuania a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has Lithuania ratified CRPD: Yes (18 August 2010)

·         Population with a disability: 448,165 (est.)

**Lithuania’s Constitutional Court ruled on Friday July 11, 2014 that this provision is unconstitutional, stating, “the provision of the Referendum Law, which obligates the parliament to call a referendum, even if the proposal is possibly inconsistent with the Constitution, run counter to the country’s main law.”

*As of June 2014, the Lithuanian Constitution stipulates that in order to "alter or supplement" the Constitution, "1/4 of the Seimas" and "not less than 300,000 voters" need to support a proposed measure. A proposed motion on the 29 June 2014 referendum, seeks to change part of the requirement from 300,000 voters to 100,000 voters.  There has been no proposal to change the "1/4 of the Seimas support."