V. Sinkevičius is surprised by the negligence of the Seimas: citizens will lose their constitutional right

The head of state read the annual report in the Seimas on June 8, in which he mentioned the desire to create “real conditions” for Lithuanian citizens to express their will in referendums.

He proposed extending the period for collecting signatures for a referendum and giving people the right to sign electronically as well.

In addition, the president expressed his outrage that the Seimas has not yet adopted the constitutional referendum law. And that is supposed to have consequences.

“It is unforgivable that the Constitutional Referendum Law has not been passed until now, which means that as of July 1, Lithuanian citizens will lose the power granted to them by the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania,” noted G. Nausėda in his speech. .

The Seimas will not be able to pass the law

Almost a year ago, the Constitutional Court (CC) clarified that the wording of the Referendum Law of 2018 is in conflict with the Constitution regarding the form of adoption and cannot be applied, it had to be adopted as a constitutional law.

The CC officially decided to publish this interpretation a year later, that is, in July 2021, so that by then the Seimas could eliminate the loopholes in legal regulation and adopt the law properly.

But the Seimas will no longer be able to do that.

“As the Referendum Law is a constitutional law and the Constitution and Statute of the Seimas provide a special procedure for adoption, which includes longer consideration periods, it is possible to adopt it no earlier than in the autumn session,” said Viktorija. Čmilytė-Nielsen, president of the Seimas. 15 minutes delivered by your spokesperson.

The fall session of the Seimas will begin on September 10.

Vice Minister: the project was coordinated

Why did the process take so long?

Deputy Justice Minister Jurga Greičienė assured that the preparation of the draft constitutional law on referendum required detailed discussions and coordination with stakeholders.

After the new Government took office, in December of last year the draft Constitutional Law on Referendum was included in the Government’s program and the pertinent actions were initiated. Already in March, the project was presented for approval to ministries, commissions to non-governmental organizations.

Public relations regulated by the Constitutional Law are guaranteed greater stability than those regulated by ordinary laws, so detailed discussions are required for the preparation of the draft Constitutional Referendum Law.

Detailed discussions are needed to draft the Constitutional Referendum Law.

Both formal and informal coordination of the bill with the institutions was carried out according to their comments “, 15 minutes she taught.

The project will be presented to the government this week.

The deputy minister stated that the revised bill would be presented to the government this week, after which it would travel to the Seimas.

“The further development of the process will depend on the discussions in the Seimas committees and the agendas of the plenary sessions,” said J. Greičienė.

He argued that the amendments to the Referendum Law had been drawn up on the basis of current law, so that its essential provisions had not changed.

However, the vice minister highlighted a series of new provisions that, according to her, respond to current issues.

It is proposed that:

• the introduction of a state of emergency, the declaration of a state of emergency or an event, or the quarantine of temporary restrictions on the free movement of persons or other restrictions, would provide voters who vote in polling stations with the necessary guarantees. Voting facilities would also be additionally installed in those districts where the number of voters exceeds 3,000, and voters in self-isolation could vote at home;
• the acts of bribery of citizens would be published on the website of the Central Electoral Commission, indicating the specific data of the people who organized the bribery, as well as the purpose and period of publication of the personal data;
• the legal assistance necessary for the text of the referendum decision presented by the group would be provided by the Seimas Chancellery and not the Government Chancellery.

V. Sinkevičius: The Seimas works in a very irresponsible way

Vytautas Sinkevičius, constitutionalist and professor at Mykolas Romeris University, described the situation as that there will be no law regulating the procedure for holding referendums as of July 1, which means that they cannot be held.

“Sovereignty belongs to the nation, sovereignty can be realized directly by the nation, and the referendum is a direct expression of the will of the nation, and the nation now largely loses the constitutional right to hold a referendum due to negligence. of the Seimas. <...> Here is a scandalous case, there has never been such a case in the history of Lithuania “, 15 minutes commented.

The nation is now losing its constitutional right to hold a referendum, in large part due to the negligence of the Seimas.

The former CC judge pointed out that the Seimas had one year to re-approve the Referendum Law, but could not do so, which, according to him, was irresponsible.

“It just came to our attention then. The old ruling majority blames the new ruling majority, the new ruling majority bites the old one. This shows that the Seimas are working very carelessly. That the Seimas receives the most attention from the laws that are in place. related to private and group interests, but not those that are of special importance, ”said V. Sinkevičius.

He agreed that, from a practical point of view, the situation is not tragic, since it takes time to start a referendum: collecting the necessary signatures can take half a year.

“But from the legal point of view, from the point of view of society and the Constitution, this is an intolerable situation,” added the constitutionalist.

If the problem is relevant, no problems should arise

He said he was skeptical of the president’s proposal to extend the time required to collect the signatures required for the referendum.

“The president did not propose it, and how long would he think it would be necessary to extend that period; maybe a year would be necessary to collect signatures, maybe that issue is completely irrelevant during that time,” said V. Sinkevičius. .

– Sounds like 6 months to me – enough time to collect 300 thousand. signatures, because if the question is really relevant, it is not a problem to collect them in 6 months “.

V. Sinkevičius also considered whether all the issues proposed to be resolved in the referendum are relevant and considered.

“Isn’t it populism or are there private and personal interests behind it?” He said, emphasizing that all referendum initiatives cost taxpayers.

Seimas spokesperson: initiatives must be discussed

According to V. Sinkevičius, the possibility of expressing support for the referendum and signing it electronically is not so essential.

The signature must identify the real person: where they live, the passport number, and everything else.

“When signing, the real person must be identified: where he lives, passport number and everything else. If a person has an electronic signature, why is he not allowed to sign? This is secondary, a third thing,” he said , emphasizing that this opportunity already exists.

In accordance with the Referendum Law in force, a citizen can also sign a request to hold a referendum by electronic means in accordance with the procedure established by the Central Electoral Commission.

However, would Seimas have the will to consolidate the president’s proposals?

The president of the Seimas replied that this should be discussed.

“Extension of the period for collecting signatures necessary for a referendum and improvement of the right to sign electronically <...> “Possible initiatives that require a broader discussion, first and foremost with the coalition,” he said.

And now the signatures are collected electronically

And Deputy Justice Minister J.Greičienė emphasized that at least now it is not planned to extend the time during which it is necessary to collect the required signatures for the referendum.

The current Referendum Law establishes that a period of 6 months is established for the exercise of the right of citizens to initiate a referendum. This deadline is maintained, as citizens’ signatures can be collected electronically both now and in the proposed project.

In general, we should talk about the challenges related to participation in elections and referendums.

“In general, we should talk about the challenges related to election and referendum activity,” he said.