3.the ballot counting records of the referendum district shall be signed by the chairman and members of the district referendum committee. After that the observers shall sign the records. Their remarks, the separate opinions of the members of the committee shall be appended to the records and shall be an inseparable part thereof.
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4.Group members, parties, and also, their representatives and observers shall have the right to appeal the vote counting record of the referendum-polling district to the regional referendum committee within 24 hours of its compilation. This appeal must be examined within 24 hours of its receipt.
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Article 66Invalid Referendum Ballot Papers
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1.Invalid ballot papers shall be:
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1)non-standard ballot papers;
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2)ballot papers sealed with the seal of the referendum committee of the wrong polling district and unsealed ones;
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3)those, on which the voter has marked both replies, namely, “YES” and “NO” or “FOR” and “AGAINST;”
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4)those, where the voter failed to mark either “YES” and “NO” or “FOR” and “AGAINST.”
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2.The district referendum committee shall adopt the decision regarding certification of a referendum ballot paper as invalid.
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Article 67The Presentation of Documents of the Polling District to the
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City, Regional Referendum Committee 1. The district referendum committee shall put all referendum ballot papers, as well as invalid and unused ballot papers, vote counting records, district referendum lists and other election documents into packages, and affix the seal to them in the manner prescribed by the Central Electoral Committee. The packages shall be delivered to the city, region referendum within 6 hours of the closing of polls.
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2.The Central Electoral Committee and the Ministry of the Interior must ensure the safety of transportation of the referendum documents and the persons transporting them.
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Article 68The Counting of Votes in the City, Regional Referendum Committee
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1.The city, regional referendum committee shall begin counting ballot papers, after receipt of the entire vote counting records and other referendum documents delivered from all district referendum committees and shall check all the appeals regarding the vote counting records of referendum districts.
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Article 69City, Regional Vote Counting Documents
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1.In accordance with vote counting records, ballot papers and other documents referendum districts, the city, regional referendum committee shall establish:
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1)the number of voters who have participated in the referendum in the city, region which shall be equal to the number of the voters who have voted in the city, regional referendum districts;
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2)the number of invalid ballot papers in the city, region, which shall be equal to the number of invalid ballot papers in the city, regional referendum districts;
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3)the number of ballot papers valid in the city, region, which shall be equal to the number of ballots valid in city, regional referendum districts;
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4)the number of replies “YES” and “NO” or “FOR” and “AGAINST.” It shall be obtained by adding the one type of replies and the other type of replies separately in the referendum districts.
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2.These data shall be entered in the city, regional-voting records. They shall be signed by the chairmen of city, regional referendum committees and members.
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3.The group members, parties and also the representatives and observers shall have the right to appeal the voter counting records to the Central Electoral Committee within 24 hours from the drawing up thereof. The Central Electoral Committee must examine this appeal within 24 hours of the receipt thereof.
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Article 70The Presentation of Vote Counting Documents of City, Regional Constituencies to the Central Electoral Committee
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All of the documents received from the city, regional referendum committees, referendum districts, vote counting records of referendum districts, city, regional vote counting record and other referendum documents, shall be placed in special packages, sealed and delivered to the Central Electoral Committee no later than within 48 hours after the end of the referendum.
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CHAPTER VI
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ESTABLISHMENT AND ANNOUNCEMENT OF REFERENDUM RESULTS
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Article 71The Procedure of Establishment of Referendum Results
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1.The Central Electoral Committee may only begin establishing the results of the referendum after having received the vote counting records of all city and regional referendum committees and also, other documents indicated in Article 70 of this Law, and shall investigate all the complaints regarding the vote counting records of the city and regional referendum committees.
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2.According to the vote counting records of the referendum committees of a city, region and according to the vote counting records received from the Republic of Lithuania diplomatic missions and consular posts, the Central Electoral Committee shall determine:
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1)the number of citizens having the right to take part in the referendum;
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2)the number of citizens who took part in the referendum;
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3)the number of referendum ballots which are invalid;
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4)the number of valid referendum ballots;
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5)the number of “YES” and “NO” or “FOR” and “AGAINST” replies.
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3.In examining the appeals submitted in accordance with the procedure set forth in this Law, the Central Electoral Committee may recount the referendum ballot papers, and having determined counting errors, may correct the entries in the counting records. The Central Electoral Committee may not acknowledge as invalid the vote counting records of city, regional and district referendum committees on the basis of the errors encountered in vote counting records.
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4.The Central Electoral Committee may, having determined that gross violations of this Law, committed during the period from the day of the registration of a citizens’ initiative group for a referendum in accordance with the procedure laid down by this Law or from the day of submission to the Seimas of a proposal by a group of the Seimas members regarding the calling of a referendum until the beginning of the voting in the referendum and on the day of voting in the referendum, as well as during the voting, or the falsification of the documents have had a decisive impact on the results of the referendum, acknowledge the referendum results as invalid.
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Article 72Participation of Referendum Observers in the Counting of Votes and Establishment of Referendum Results
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1.Groups, party appointed referendum observers and also representatives of the mass media may participate in counting votes in the referendum districts and city, regional referendum committees and also, in establishing the referendum results at the Central Electoral Committee.
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2.The referendum observers shall have the right to voice their remarks and claims to the referendum committees concerning the violations of this and other laws of the Republic of Lithuania, but they must not hinder the work of the referendum committees. The observers shall also have the right to make a written protest. The protest must be appended to the vote counting records and decisions of the referendum-polling district and delivered to the city, regional referendum committee and the Central Electoral Committee along with the other referendum documents of the polling district.
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Article 73Publication of the Preliminary Referendum Results
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1.Final referendum results may be published in the official gazette Valstybės žinios by the Central Electoral Committee, no later than within 4 days of the referendum vote.
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2.The Central Electoral Committee shall present to the President of the Republic the text of the resolution adopted by referendum no later than the next day following the official publication of the final referendum results.
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Article 74Complaints against the Decision of Central Electoral Committee on Final Results
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1.A group, party and representatives thereof at the Central Electoral Committee shall have the right to appeal the decision of the Central Electoral Committee on the final results to the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania no later than within two days of official publication of these results.
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2.The appeal must be examined at least within 48 hours from its presentation. The decision of the court shall come into force from its announcement.
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Article 75Keeping of Referendum Documents
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1.At the close of the referendum, the Central Electoral Committee no later than within four months after the expiration of the time limit set in this Law for examining the appeals concerning its decisions, shall transfer to the State Archives for permanent keeping the records of referendum districts, city and regional referendum committees and the Central Electoral Committee.
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2.The Central Electoral Committee shall keep the lists of the voters who took part in the referendum, for five years.
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CHAPTER VII
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FINAL PROVISIONS
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Article 76Liability for Violation of Referendum Law
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1.Persons, who have violated this Law shall be liable according to the procedure established by the laws.
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Article 77Expenses of Holding and Implementing of Referendum
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1.The expenses; involved in the preparation and implementation of a referendum shall be compensated from the State and municipal budgets.
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2.The expenses incurred by the Central Electoral Committee and the referendum committees in organising and implementing and compensating the committee members and the personnel serving them, for their work.
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3.The maintenance of the electoral headquarters of the city, regional and district referendum committees, the acquired inventory of setting up voting booths and keeping thereof, shall be paid from the municipal budgets. If the municipal administration does not provide suitable quarters and inventory for city, regional or district referendum committee headquarters or voting booths, State funds shall be used for this per decision of the Central Electoral Committee. In this instance, within 2 months following the referendum, the Central Electoral Committee shall recover the funds without filing claim from the municipal administration for actual expenses related to voting quarters and inventory.
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Article 78Entry into Force of Law of Republic of Lithuania, Other Legislative Enactment or Resolution Passed by Referendum
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1.The day of voting by referendum shall be deemed as the day of the passage by referendum of a law, other legislative enactment or resolution. In the event, the referendum shall be held on more than one day, the last day of voting by referendum shall be deemed as the day of passage by referendum of a law, other legislative enactment or resolution.
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2.The President of the Republic must sign and officially proclaim a law, other legal enactment or resolution passed by referendum no later that within 5 days from the official publication of the final results of the referendum.
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3.Should the President of the Republic fail to sign and proclaim such a law, other legal enactment or resolution within the stipulated time, it will enter into force following its signing and official proclamation by the Chairman of the Seimas.
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4.A Law passed by referendum on an amendment to the Constitution shall enter into force no earlier than after one month from the day it was passed by referendum.
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5.A law which has been passed by referendum, with the exception of amendments to the Constitution, another legal enactment, or resolution, shall enter into force on the day of their publication in the official gazette Valstybės žinios, provided that a later entry into force date is not stipulated in them.
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Article 78 (1) Calculation of Time Limits 1. In the event, the referendum shall be held on more than one day, the time limits set forth in this Law, for up to the day of the referendum vote, shall be calculated until the first day of the referendum vote.
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2)In the event, the referendum shall be held on more than one day, the time limits set forth in this Law for after the referendum vote day shall be calculated after the final day of the referendum vote.
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Article 79Entry into Force of the Law
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This Law shall enter into force from January 1, 2003.
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Article 80Acknowledgment of the Laws as Being No Longer in Force
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Upon entry into force of this Law, the Law of the Republic of Lithuania On the Referendum, shall no longer be in force (Gaz., 1989, No. 33-445; 1990, NO. 4-86; No. 31-775; 1992, No. 18-515; 1994, No. 47-870, No. 59-1161; No. 89-1716; 1995, No. 7-144; 1996, No. 86-2044; 1977, No. 117-3011; 1999, No. 19-512; 2000.No. 85-2577.