Žemaitaitis calls Nausėda hypocritical over referendum proposals

Opposition Nemunas Dawn leader Remigijus Žemaitaitis has called President Gitanas Nausėda’s support for an advisory referendum on the definition of family hypocritical, LRT reported.

Žemaitaitis said the same kind of referendum should be held on a proposed constitutional amendment that would remove the ban on weapons of mass destruction being stationed in Lithuania. He said Nausėda supported asking voters about family but opposed a referendum on the amendment, which could allow Lithuania to come under a nuclear umbrella.

“If we are holding an advisory referendum on families, then we should also hold one on changing Article 137 of the Constitution,” Žemaitaitis said on Žinių radijas on Friday. He argued that the president was seeking political gain in one case while taking the opposite position in the other.

Nausėda told BNS that the Seimas should let people express their views, particularly because the proposed referendum would be advisory and non-binding. “I sometimes do not understand why people’s opinions are feared so much,” he said.

A proposal awaiting consideration in parliament would ask voters whether the Constitution should state explicitly that family legal relations arise only from the marriage of a man and a woman, motherhood and fatherhood. Voters would choose “Yes” or “No”.

The Seimas gave initial approval in early October to the constitutional amendment on weapons of mass destruction. A total of 106 members voted in favour, 18 against and six abstained. A final vote cannot take place until at least three months later. The amendment would need the support of at least 94 of the Seimas’s 141 members.

Article 137 of the Constitution currently prohibits weapons of mass destruction and foreign military bases in Lithuania. The proposed amendment would remove that provision. Nemunas Dawn politicians have largely opposed the change.