The ruling coalition partners have failed to secure enough votes to pass the Civil Union Law, said the leader of the Freedom Party, suggesting that the piece of legislation may not be put to a vote for now.
Legalising same-sex unions is a key item in the party’s platform but does not have universal support from its coalition partners: the conservative Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) and the Liberal Movement.
“On 20 November, at the coalition meeting, we raised both the budget and the issue of the Civil Union, and the partners promised to look for more votes. Today, two weeks later, they are back. And I can say that for the coalition parties, the Homeland Union and the Liberal Movement, the votes they have mobilised are not enough to pass the law. This is an important message and apparently we need to register it here,” Aušrinė Armonaitė, the chairwoman of the Freedom Party, told journalists after the meeting of the coalition council on Monday.
She later posted on Facebook that, as things stand, 66 or 67 coalition and opposition MPs would support for the bill, a few votes short of the 71-vote majority.
Armonaitė did not rule out, however, mobilising enough votes in the future.
“Clause 5.2 of the coalition agreement, saying that the coalition partners will do their utmost [to mobilise support for same-sex partnership bill], remains unfulfilled. The Freedom Party will also look at its commitments,” said Armonaitė.
Asked whether this means that the Civil Union Bill will not be put to a vote in the parliament on Tuesday, she reiterated that “the Homeland Union and the Liberal Movement have not mobilised sufficient support”.
Armonaitė suggested, however, that the bill would return to the Seimas agenda “at any moment when we see that its decision and adoption is possible, that it would be positive”.
Two weeks ago, after a meeting of the ruling coalition’s council, she claimed to have received a promise from the TS-LKD and the Liberal Movement to seek additional votes from among their ranks in order to pass the bill.
Last spring, the Civil Union Bill, which would legalise same-sex partnerships, passed the first vote by a minimum majority. Some conservatives and liberals opposed the bill.
Lithuania does not have a civil partnership law for either same-sex or opposite-sex couples. The constitution, meanwhile, explicitly precludes same-sex marriage.
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