A constitutional referendum was held in

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

on 29 June 2014. Proposed amendments to articles 9, 47 and 147 of the constitution would have reduced the number of signatures required to call a referendum from 300,000 to 100,000, prevent foreigners from owning land in the country, and require all decisions related to the exploitation and extraction of natural resources that would have national and local importance to require approval by referendum. Although 73% of voters voted in favour of the changes, the result was invalidated by a turnout of just 14.98%.

Background

When Lithuania joined the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

in 2004, it agreed to allow the sale of land to foreigners. However, the country was granted a seven-year transition period, under which sale of land to foreigners remained illegal. This period was later extended to last until May 2014. A previous referendum on allowing EU citizens to buy land was held in 1996. Although a majority of those voting voted in favour, the required quorum of 50% of registered voters voting in favour was not achieved. The referendum was supported by the Lithuanian Nationalist Union and the

Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union The Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union ( lt, Lietuvos valstiečių ir žaliųjų sąjunga, LVŽS)The party is also known as Lithuanian Peasant and Greens Union. is a green-conservative and agrarian political party in Lithuania led by Ramū ...

. It was opposed by the

Social Democratic Party of Lithuania The Social Democratic Party of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos socialdemokratų partija, LSDP) is a centre-left and social democratic political party in Lithuania. Founded as an underground Marxist organization in 1896, it is the oldest extant party i ...

and the main opposition

Homeland Union The Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats ( lt, Tėvynės sąjunga Lietuvos krikščionys demokratai, TS–LKD), also known colloquially simply as the Conservatives, is a centre-right political party in Lithuania. It has 18,000 mem ...

Results

References

{{Lithuanian elections

2014 in Lithuania Referendums in Lithuania