There have been ten referendum

Referendum

A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...

s in Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

since it declared independence from the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 on March 11, 1990. Because of strict requirements only four referendums were successful. Older Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

n laws required that more than a half of all registered voters (not a half of voters who participate) would vote in support of a proposal for it to become a binding obligation to the government. In 2002, this requirement was lowered to one third of all registered voters.

The procedure to call for a referendums is also challenging. The initiators need to present 300,000 signatures of registered voters in three months or the Seimas

Seimas

The Seimas is the unicameral Lithuanian parliament. It has 141 members that are elected for a four-year term. About half of the members of this legislative body are elected in individual constituencies , and the other half are elected by nationwide vote according to proportional representation...

, Parliament of Lithuania, has to approve it by a fourth of all the members of the Seimas. Despite the difficulties, the idea to call referendums is very popular among the politicians.

2002 law changes

In anticipation of referendum regarding the membership in the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

, the Law on Referendum was passed on June 4, 2002.

The law prescribes that the voting is conducted based on democratic principles: universal, direct, and equal suffrage and secret ballot. There are two types of referendums: mandatory and consultative (deliberative). Mandatory referendums must be held to:

1. amend Chapters 1 (The State of Lithuania) and 14 (Amending the Constitution) of the Constitution of Lithuania
   Constitution of Lithuania
   The Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania defines the legal foundation for all laws passed in the Republic of Lithuania. It was approved in a referendum on October 25, 1992.-History:...
   
   
2. amend the June 8, 1992 Constitutional Act, "On Non-Alignment of the Republic of Lithuania to Post-Soviet Eastern Alliances
   Commonwealth of Independent States
   The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....
   
   "
3. approve participation in international organizations if membership requires partial transfer of the scope of competence of Government bodies to the institutions of international organizations or the jurisdiction
4. other mandatory or consultative referendums might be held if enough registered voters express support by signing the petition which specify what type of referendums it should be.

The law lowered the requirements for number of votes needed to approve the resolution. For consultative referendums, a half of all registered voters need to participate and a half of those participating need to vote in favor. Seimas

Seimas

The Seimas is the unicameral Lithuanian parliament. It has 141 members that are elected for a four-year term. About half of the members of this legislative body are elected in individual constituencies , and the other half are elected by nationwide vote according to proportional representation...

 then have a month to decide on the resolution. For mandatory referendums, instead of a half of all registered voters it now demands one third. In addition, more than a half of all voters need to participate and of those participating a half needs to vote in favor. There are exceptions to this rule:

1. To change the first sentence ("The State of Lithuania shall be an independent, democratic Republic") of the Constitution and to amend the Constitutional Act of June 8, 1992 it requires approval of at least three-fourths of all the citizens registered to vote.
2. To amend Chapter 1 and 14 of the Constitution it requires approval of more than half of all the registered voters.
3. The decision on the participation in international organizations will be adopted if it has been approved by more than one half of the voters who have participated in the referendum. This exception was adopted on February 25, 2003, just 2.5 months before the referendum on the European Union.

The law also lowered the number of Seimas votes needed to announce a referendum from one third to one forth. However, the requirements for citizen initiated referendum are the same: they need to collect 300,000 signatures of registered voters in three months.

Referendum results

The successful referendums are marked in light green, while failed ones are in pink. The color denotes which number was used to determine the outcome. Two referendums failed on two counts: they not only did not receive support from more than 50% of all registered voters, but also less than 50% of the voters came to vote. They are deemed not to have taken place.

#	Date	Topic	Voter turnout Voter turnout Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...  (%)	Voted "Yes" (%)		Voted "No" (%)
				from total	from voters	from total	from voters
1	February 9, 1991	Demand independence from the Soviet Union Soviet Union The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....	84.74	76.46	90.24	5.54	6.54
2	May 23, 1992	Restore the institution of the President of Lithuania	59.18	40.99	69.27	15.13	25.57
3	June 14, 1992	Demand immediate withdrawal of Russian troops and compensation for damages from the Soviet Union	76.05	68.95	90.67	5.51	7.25
4	October 25, 1992	Approve the Constitution of Lithuania Constitution of Lithuania The Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania defines the legal foundation for all laws passed in the Republic of Lithuania. It was approved in a referendum on October 25, 1992.-History:...	75.26	56.75	75.42	15.78	20.98
5	August 27, 1994	Pass Law on Illegal Privatization Privatization Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations... , Depreciated Deposits, and Broken Laws	36.89	30.85	83.63	3.81	10.34
6	October 20, 1996	Amend Articles 55, 57, and 131 of the Constitution of Lithuania	52.11	33.86	65.00	9.18	17.63
7	October 20, 1996	Should the deposits be compensated by funds acquired from privatization	52.46	38.97	74.31	10.01	19.10
8	November 10, 1996	Amend Article 47 of the Constitution of Lithuania	39.73	17.24	43.41	15.91	40.05
9	May 10–11, 2003 Lithuanian European Union membership referendum, 2003 The 2003 Lithuanian European Union referendum took place from 10 May to 11 May 2003 to decide whether Lithuania should join the European Union...	Approve Lithuania's membership in the European Union European Union The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...	63.37	57.00	89.95	5.59	8.82
10	October 12, 2008 Lithuanian nuclear power referendum, 2008 A referendum on extending the operation of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant was held in Lithuania on 12 October 2008, despite the fact that Lithuania is obliged to close down Ignalina per its treaty of accession to the European Union...	Extend the operation of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant The Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant is a closed two-unit RBMK-1500 nuclear power station in Visaginas, Lithuania. It was named after the nearby city of Ignalina...	48.44		88.59		8.32