This month 20 years ago, Lithuania held one of its most consequential referendums, one on joining the European Union. While the public’s support for membership was secure enough, there were reasons why the country’s leaders feared the vote could fail.
On December 8, 1995, the Lithuanian government submitted its application to join the European Union. After seven arduous years, in December 2002, Lithuania concluded membership talks and, four months later, it signed the accession treaty.
However, that was not the last step towards membership. Before it could proceed, Lithuania had to put the EU accession to a vote in a referendum. While public support for EU membership was considerable, the main worry was that the turnout would not reach the required 50-percent benchmark, in which case the referendum would be void.
To make the referendum happen, politicians and even private businesses employed tricks never used before or since.
Law changes for one referendum
“That Lithuanians can be lazy and think that there is no need to go to the ballot box, yes, that idea did cross our minds,” recalls Artūras Paulauskas, who was parliament speaker at the time.
Paulauskas was also heading a council charged with preparations for the referendum. The referendum law at the time gave little cause for optimism, he says, as it was quite restrictive.
“Initially, we passed several amendments so that we could keep the ballots open for two days,” Paulauskas recalls. “We were really trying to make the law a little more favourable to the [positive] outcome.”
Besides extending the voting time, Paulauskas’ team conducted an active campaign, travelling across the country and holding meetings with local communities.
According to Zenonas Vaigauskas, who was at the time the head of the Central Electoral Commission, it was important to give an equal platform to both the “yes” and the “no” campaigns.
While the pro-membership camp was much bigger – 105 MPs who initiated the referendum – there were also some who cautioned that Lithuania may not have been fully prepared for the EU.
“An inter-institutional group was set up [...] and the main job of the Central Electoral Commission was to ensure that the Referendum Law was respected and that everyone could have their say on the most equal terms,” says Vaigauskas. “For example, there were TV programmes where both the initiators and the opponents were invited to speak.”
Three languages and two days
The EU membership referendum was unique in a number of ways. First, its ballots were open for two days, instead of just one.
Moreover, in order to entice Lithuania’s ethnic minority communities to vote, the government decided that ballots could be multilingual.
“The ballot papers could be in Lithuanian with translations into the languages that were widely used in an area. Municipal councils could ask for such [bilingual] ballots, and they did, although not very many,” recalls Vaigauskas. “In some places, ballots were in Polish and Russian. I remember Visaginas having them.”
That was the first and only time Lithuanians could vote in a referendum over two days or cast bilingual ballots. In 2019, the Constitutional Court ruled that no vote could last more than one day, while in 2006, it said that ballots must only be in the official language.
According to Vaigauskas, some eager politicians were even proposing measures of dubitable merit to make the referendum succeed. For instance, one proposal in the parliament suggested removing people from electoral lists if they could not be found in their declared places of residence.
“But this idea was scrapped, and for good reason, because that would go against the principles of a democratic referendum,” says Vaigauskas.
Washing powder for votes
Voters who came to the ballot boxes were also given “I have voted” stickers, something that has been used in subsequent elections and referendums. The stickers had been extensively featured in the preceding campaign, with political leaders and celebrities urging citizens to vote.
The EU membership referendum took place over the weekend of May 10-11. The turnout on the first day was not very high, but it was widely expected that most voters would come on Sunday, sticking to their regular voting habits.
However, private businesses decided to give it an extra push. VP Market, which runs the Maxima chain of supermarkets, announced that shoppers with “I have voted” stickers could get a soft drink, a chocolate bar, a bottle of beer, or washing powder for one cent.
“We picked products that would appeal to men, women, and children,” VP Market CEO Ignas Staškevičius then told the media, saying the idea was spontaneous, prompted by the low turnout on the first day of the vote.
This special offer caught the organisers of the referendum unawares.
“That was a big surprise, very unexpected, when reports started coming in about a supermarket chain contributing this way to the referendum,” Vaigauskas says.
The surprise was not entirely pleasant – there were fears that the uncoordinated involvement of private businesses could allow opponents to cast doubt on the validity of the vote.
“It left a bitter taste. It was an unnecessary thing that caused confusion and gave fodder to the opponents of the referendum,” Vaigauskas says.
Palauskas shares the sentiment, saying that freebies were unnecessary.
In the end, according to Vaigauskas, the offer did not affect the vote or the turnout.
A TV news report on the evening of the second day of the vote showed crowds of people in a Maxima supermarket trying to claim their free beer or washing powder.
“We would have voted anyway, how else,” one elderly woman said in the news report. “Not for stickers, but for Europe.”
The referendum was a success. With a turnout of over 63 percent, an overwhelming majority, 91 percent, voted for Lithuania’s membership in the European Union.
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