Until now, the Referendum Law provided that a referendum is conducted “no later than in three months and no sooner than in two months from the day of passing the Seimas Resolution on the date of calling the referendum”.
Arvydas Nekrošius, Deputy Speaker of the Seimas and head of the Seimas working group dealing with the matters related to the preparation for the referendum on dual citizenship, formerly said that the previously established period was very short and that its extension would facilitate better preparation for the referendum (allowing time for the authorities to plan the dedicated budget and for citizens to acquire a much better understanding of the referendum questions).
The adopted amendments establish that the referendum will be held no later than in eight months and no sooner than in two months from the day of passing the Seimas Resolution on the date of calling the referendum.
The explanatory note to the document sets out that “on the one hand, such regulation will give public authorities and citizens the opportunity to better prepare for a referendum; on the other hand, the lower time limit, which remains unaltered, will provide a possibility to call a referendum in a relatively short time, should the need for this arise in the future“,
The new legislative provisions were adopted by a total of 67 Members of the Seimas, with 1 vote against and 6 abstentions.
