You, as a citizen, also have the right to propose a new law or amend existing laws, provided that your initiative meets several conditions.
Citizens' legislative initiative is a tool that allows the public to propose new laws or amend existing laws. If you wish to put forward a draft law for the parliament’s consideration, you can do so, provided that enough people support your proposal. Citizens may launch initiatives not only to propose new laws, but also to amend or withdraw existing laws. In Lithuania, a draft law can be submitted to the parliament by 50 000 citizens who have the right to vote.
The main stages for submitting a legislative initiative are:
- the creation of an initiative group that drafts the law proposal and submits it to the Central Electoral Commission for registration
- the collecting of signatures of 50 000 citizens who have the right to vote within 2 months after the registration of the initiative
What are the requirements with which your initiative must comply?
The criteria for submitting and registering legislative initiatives are laid down in the Constitutional Law on the Citizens’ Legislative Initiative.
Any citizen eligible to vote for the parliament has a right to take part in a legislative initiative. All the collected signatures must be verified by Central Electoral Commission.
Amendment of supplementation of the Constitution
Not less than 300 000 voters have the right to submit an initiative to amend or supplement the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania to the parliament.
In such a case the iniative group have 6 months to collect the required number of signatures.
Referendum
There is also another method for legislative initiatives, the referendum. At least three hundred thousand citizens with the right to vote can exercise the right to initiate a citizens' referendum. Read more about referendums in this Guide.