A referendum on the presidency 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 23 May 1992.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An exp ...

& Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1201 Voters were asked whether they approved of restoring the institution of the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by ...

.Nohlen & Stöver, p1210 It was initiated by

Sąjūdis Sąjūdis (, "Movement"), initially known as the Reform Movement of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Persitvarkymo Sąjūdis), is the political organisation which led the struggle for Lithuanian independence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was es ...

. Although it was approved by 73.0% of those voting, the turnout of 59.2% meant that the number of registered voters approving the proposal was only 41.0%. As this was below the 50% threshold, the proposal failed.

Background

The

Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR The Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR ( lt, Lietuvos TSR Aukščiausioji Taryba; russian: Верховный Совет Литовской ССР, ''Verkhovnyy Sovet Litovskoy SSR'') was the supreme soviet (main legislative institution) of the ...

, its parliament, declared Lithuania's independence from the Soviet Union on 11 March 1990. On the same day, it adopted a provisional constitution – the Provisional Basic Law. The law established a framework for the new state, guaranteeing democratic rights and establishing rules of democratic process. However, the government was structured similarly to its Soviet predecessor: legislative and executive functions were combined under the parliament ( Supreme Council, lt, Aukščiausioji Taryba), and the judiciary branch was not independent. The government functions were performed by the presidium of the Supreme Council and the chairman of the presidium became the chairman of the parliament and the Head of State. The Soviet model proved not to be suitable for the new democratic system of government. The Basic Law did not reflect the changing economic and social relations and the evolving demands of the society and the state. Also over one-third of the Law was amended in a period of two years. Over the next two years, work on a new constitution was done, with independent drafts prepared in 1990 and 1991. At the end of 1991, the Supreme Council established a commission tasked to prepare a draft constitution. The resulting proposal was approved by the Supreme Council on 21 April 1992, and presented to the public. An alternative draft constitution was prepared by a coalition led by

. The main difference between the two proposals was the balance between the various branches of government. The proposal approved by the Supreme Council envisioned a

parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of th ...

, while the alternative proposal suggested a presidential model. The latter model was supported by more radical parties (Independence Party,

Lithuanian Democratic Party The Lithuanian Democratic Party ( lt, Lietuvių demokratų partija, LDP) was a political party in Lithuania The original party was established in 1902. It published newspapers '' Lietuvos ūkininkas'' (1905–1918) and '' Lietuvos žinios'' (1909 ...

, Ctizens Charter etc.) and Sąjūdis. After collection of more than 300,000 signatures to hold referendum and verification process throughout February and March, the Supreme Council passed law that set referendum day on 23 May, 1992.

Results

The most supportive of presidency district was

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Traka ...

(81.61 per cent of all votes). The least supportive of presidency district (and the only where "No" votes were majority) was Pakruojis district.

References

{{Lithuanian elections 1992 referendums 1992 in Lithuania Referendums in Lithuania