A woman casts her vote in Vilnius, Lithuania, on May 12.Ints Kalnins/Reuters
A referendum that would have allowed Lithuanians to hold more than one citizenship has failed, leaving the Baltic nation one of a handful of countries in the European Union that bans dual citizenship.
The vote on Sunday required what’s known as a double majority: at least half of eligible voters must participate in the referendum, and at least half of all eligible voters must vote to approve it.
Voter turnout was 59 per cent and of those who participated, 74 per cent supported the change. But that was 178,313 votes short of the required 50 per cent majority of all voters.
“I really believed in the referendum, but there was a lack of voter turnout,” said Skirmantas Mockevicius, the mayor of Jurbarkas, in western Lithuania, who campaigned for the change. He added in an e-mail on Monday that he believed the country’s parliament “will also try to ensure that Lithuanians living in other countries do not feel rejected but are always welcome in Lithuania.”
This is the second time in five years a referendum on introducing dual citizenship has failed. In 2019, the turnout was 53 per cent, which met the first test. Around 74 per cent voted in favour, but that represented only 38 per cent of all registered voters, short of the 50 per cent required.
There had been talk among some supporters that it will be difficult to hold a third vote on the issue. But Mr. Mockevicius said he supported the idea of another try.
“I think that a third referendum is also necessary, because now everyone has realized that a lot of effort is needed to make the referendum a success,” he said.
Lithuania’s constitution has prohibited dual citizenship for everyone who left after the country declared independence in 1990. Only four other European Union countries – Austria, Estonia, Slovakia and the Netherlands – have similar restrictions, and more than 100 other nations, including Canada, have permitted some form of dual citizenship for decades.
The ban has left Lithuania’s substantial diaspora – estimated to number around one million – facing an often-painful dilemma about whether to give up their citizenship, and each year as many as 1,000 Lithuanians living abroad go through with it after becoming citizens of their adopted country.
Sunday’s referendum was held in conjunction with the presidential election. Gitanas Nauseda, who is running for a second term, topped the polling with 46 per cent of the votes followed by Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, who won 16 per cent. They will face each other in a runoff on May 26.
Mr. Nauseda, who supports dual citizenship, blamed poor organization for the failure to convince enough voters to change the constitution. “Unfortunately, too little effort was made,” he told a news conference on Monday. “We still have to reflect a lot on the mistakes made in the organization of the referendum.”
The issue of dual citizenship has been divisive ever since independence. After the country split from the Soviet Union, patriotism and loyalty were deemed essential in building a new nation, and restricting dual citizenship played a key role. Deep mistrust of Russia lingered, and while the Russian-speaking population in Lithuania is relatively small, the idea of allowing someone to become a citizen of both Russia and Lithuania left many people wary of dual citizenship.
The steady stream of Lithuanians moving abroad, especially after the country joined the European Union in 2004, has intensified the debate. Expats argue that the sizable diaspora can provide substantial benefits to Lithuania in the form of greater international clout and support in a time of need. Along those lines, they point to Ukraine – which is also currently considering amending its constitution to allow dual citizenship – emphasizing how that country’s diaspora has been instrumental in the war effort.