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International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Friday, 19.04.2024, 13:11

Lithuania can't lower turnout for dual citizenship referendum

BC, Vilnius, 24.10.2017.Print version
Lithuania cannot lower the minimum turnout threshold for a referendum on dual citizenship, but it can rally politicians and the public to ensure that such a plebiscite takes place, the chief advisor to President Dalia Grybauskaite said on Tuesday, cites LETA/BNS.

"The Constitutional Court has ruled once again that dual citizenship can only be legalized by referendum. There was no surprise in this (ruling) and the issue we face now is how to ensure that people turn out and express their will," Lina Antanaviciene said on the Ziniu Radijas radio station.

 

The Lithuanian World Community fears that a referendum on dual citizenship would fail as more than 50% of citizens would have to participate in the plebiscite and more than half of them would have to vote in favor for it to be legally valid.

 

However, she emphasized that it would be a mistake to try to relax the stringent requirements for a referendum.

 

"I think we can't do that. What we can do is bring all of us together -- politicians, the public, Lithuanians who live both here and abroad -- for joint effort to ensure that everyone takes part," the advisor said.

 

Antanaviciene believes that it would be the most reasonable to hold a referendum in tandem with the next presidential election in 2019 as voter turnout is usually the highest in presidential elections.






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