2019 05 14 Referendum on Dual Citizenship held in Lithuania. Results

A long-awaited referendum on dual citizenship in Lithuania was held on 12 May 2019, alongside the first round of the presidential elections.

Although the referendum on dual citizenship is considered to have taken place, but votes of electors in favour thereof were insufficient. Therefore, Article 12 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania regarding the retention of dual citizenship will not be amended.

Currently, there are approx. 2.4 million citizens in Lithuania who are included in the electoral register. For the referendum on dual citizenship in Lithuania to take place, a voter turnout voting in favour thereof had to be at least 1.2 million.

After having counted votes from all electoral districts, it turned out that 52.58 per cent of all eligible voters has voted in the referendum on dual citizenship. Nevertheless, in order to amend Article 12 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, 50 per cent of all registered voters of Lithuania had also to vote in favour thereof.

71.78 per cent of voters participating in the referendum has voted for the retention of dual citizenship, 26.04 per cent has voted against it. According to data of the CEC, 927,410 voters voted in favour of amendment of Article 12 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, whereas at least 1.2 million of all voters had to vote in favour thereof. It is therefore considered that this number of votes is insufficient and Article 12 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania will not be amended.

MIGRATION LAW CENTER