A mandatory referendum on multiple citizenships will be held in Lithuania on May 12, 2024, according to the resolution Lithuania’s Seimas approved on May 23, with 111 votes in favour, no votes against, and five abstentions. According to the plan, the referendum would take place alongside the first round of the upcoming presidential elections. If approved, the constitution would be changed to remove the existing ban on holding multiple citizenships.
More than 1.1 million people would need to vote in a referendum for multiple nationalities to be approved, according to MP Dalia Asanavičiūtė who drafted the constitutional amendments.
Lithuania held a referendum on multiple nationalities in conjunction with the presidential election in 2019 but the constitutional amendment failed to get enough votes.
Now in Lithuania, people who emigrated after the restoration of independence on March 11, 1990, are not eligible for dual citizenship, with some exceptions. The Constitutional Court has clarified that the Constitution can be changed only by means of a referendum.
