page_title: Elections in Lithuania
section_title: Election process and eligibility
hierarchical_section_title: Elections in Lithuania / Presidential elections / Election process and eligibility
caption_attribution_description: English: Presidential election of Lithuania, 2009-05-17. Dalia Grybauskaitė in voting station
context_page_description: Elections in Lithuania, are held to select members of the parliament, the president, members of the municipal councils and mayors, as well as delegates to the European Parliament. Lithuanian citizens can also vote in mandatory or consultative referendums.
  Lithuania was one of the first countries in the world to grant women a right to vote in the elections. Lithuanian women were allowed to vote by the 1918 Constitution of Lithuania and used their newly granted right for the first time in 1919. By doing so, Lithuania allowed it earlier than such democratic countries as the United States, France, and Switzerland.
  71 of the members in the 141-seat parliament, elected to a four-year term, are elected in single-seat constituencies, in a majority vote. The remaining 70 members are elected in a nationwide election based on proportional representation. The structure of the elections means that a large number of parties are represented in the parliament and coalition governments are common. The head of the state - the president - is elected to a five-year term in a majority vote, with the president eligible for up to two terms in office.
context_section_description: The President of Lithuania is the head of state of the country, elected to a five-year term in a majority vote. Elections take place on the last Sunday no more than two months before the end of current presidential term.
  To be eligible for election, candidates must be at least 40 years old on the election day and reside in Lithuania for at least three years, in addition to satisfying the eligibility criteria for a member of the parliament. A person who has been removed from office through impeachment for breach of constitution or an oath of office may not be elected as a president. This provision of the constitution had been ruled to be in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.
  The president is elected in a majority vote if the voter turnout is at least 50%. If the voter turnout is less than 50%, the candidate is declared a winner only if they get the votes of at least 1/3 of all eligible voters. If there are more than two candidates and no candidate wins in the first round, a second round of voting is held on a Sunday no more than two weeks after the first round. The two leading candidates from the first round are eligible for the second round of voting and the candidate that gets more votes in the second round is declared a winner. If two or fewer candidates stand for election and none manage to win in the first round, a new election is held no more than three months after the election date.
caption: Dalia Grybauskaitė casting a vote in the 2009 presidential election
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