Elections in Lithuania are held to select members of the parliament, the president, members of the municipal councils and mayors, as well as delegates to the European Parliament. Lithuanian citizens can also vote in mandatory or consultative referendums.
Lithuania was one of the first countries in the world to grant women a right to vote in the elections. Lithuanian women were allowed to vote by the 1918 Constitution of Lithuania and used their newly granted right for the first time in 1919. By doing so, Lithuania allowed it earlier than such democratic countries as the United States (1920), France (1945), and Switzerland (1971).
71 of the members in the 141-seat parliament, elected to a four-year term, are elected in single-seat constituencies, in a majority vote. The remaining 70 members are elected in a nationwide election based on proportional representation. The structure of the elections means that a large number of parties are represented in the parliament and coalition governments are common. The head of the state - the president - is elected to a five-year term in a majority vote, with the president eligible for up to two terms in office. More than 1500 municipal council members are elected in local elections to four-year terms, with the majority of the seats allocated using proportional representation and the mayors elected directly by residents in a majority vote. The Lithuanian representatives in the European Parliament, currently numbering 11, are elected using proportional representation every five years.
12 referendums have been organized in Lithuania, initiated by either citizens or the parliament. Of these, only four have seen the referendum question approved in a referendum deemed to have taken place.
Voting in elections is generally open to all citizens of Lithuania who are at least 18 years of age. Citizens of other European Union countries that permanently reside in Lithuania can vote in the Lithuanian elections to the European Parliament. Voting in municipal elections is open to all permanent residents of Lithuania, regardless of their citizenship.
Voting process is organized by the Central Electoral Commission and subordinate electoral bodies and is monitored by local and international observers. The voters vote in a secret ballot and the elections have generally been assessed as free and fair, although allegations of irregularities have been common.
Elections to the Seimas
Process and eligibility
The parliament (Lietuvos Respublikos Seimas) has 141 members, elected to a four-year term, with 71 members elected in single-seat constituencies and 70 members elected by proportional representation. Lithuania exhibits a fragmented multi-party system, with a number of small parties in which coalition governments are common. Ordinary elections to the Seimas take place on the second Sunday of October.
To be eligible for election, candidates must be at least 25 years old on the election day, not under allegiance to a foreign state and permanently reside in Lithuania. Persons serving or due to serve a sentence imposed by the court 65 days before the election are not eligible. Also, judges, citizens performing military service, and servicemen of professional military service and officials of statutory institutions and establishments may not stand for election.
In addition, the Lithuanian law stipulates that a person who has been removed from office through impeachment may not be elected for four years after their removal, although the limit of four years has been suspended by the Lithuanian constitutional court, which stated that the Lithuanian constitution does not allow for persons impeached for a breach of constitution or their oath of office to stand in elections indefinitely. This provision of the constitution had been ruled to be in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Parliament members in the 71 single-seat constituencies are elected in a majority vote if the voter turnout in the constituency is at least 40%. If the voter turnout is less than 40%, the candidate with the most votes (and at least 20% of the votes) is declared the winner. If there are more than two candidates and no candidate wins in the first round, a second round of voting is held within 15 days. The two leading candidates from the first round are eligible for the second round of voting. The candidate that gets more votes in the second round is declared the winner, regardless of voter turnout.