Referendum in Latvia (1998)

On June 22, 1998, the Latvian Seimas adopted 16 amendments to the Citizenship Act. Amendments proposed by the coalition government under the leadership of Guntars Krasts , they were aimed at expanding the possibilities of naturalization for some groups of non-citizens in accordance with the recommendations of the OSCE ^{[1] [2]} . The amendments included the abolition of the “ naturalization windows ”, the granting of citizenship to persons born after August 21, 1991 and having non-citizen parents, and the simplification of naturalization procedures for persons over 65 ^[3] .

After approval of the amendments by the Sejm of Latvia, 36 deputies demanded the suspension of the proclamation of the law by the President of Latvia . In accordance with Article 72 of Satversme, the President is obliged to stop the proclamation of the law for two months, if this is required by at least one third of the deputies of the Seimas. During these two months, the law can be submitted to a referendum if at least 10% of voters support this decision. From July 20 to August 18, 1998, signatures were collected for the referendum on the abolition of the adopted amendments. As a result, 226530 signatures of citizens were collected, which amounted to about 17% of the total number of voters ^[4] .

The following question was put to the referendum: “Do you support the abolition of amendments to the Citizenship Law of June 22, 1998?” Accordingly, voters who voted in favor spoke in favor of canceling the amendments, and those who voted “against” supported the adoption of the amendments. According to Satversme article 74, amendments to the Citizenship Law could be canceled if the number of voters participating in the referendum was at least half of the turnout in the previous Saeima elections and more than half of those who came to the polls voted to cancel the amendments. According to the CEC, the amendments could be canceled if at least 477696 voters had participated in the referendum and at least 238849 of them voted “for” ^[4] .

1) Granting citizenship at the request of parents to all children born after August 21, 1991, if at least one of their parents was a citizen of the USSR and has been living permanently in Latvia since August 21, 1991. Children can obtain citizenship upon reaching 16 years of age and no later than 18 years of age by submitting an application for citizenship and confirming their knowledge of the Latvian language . Confirmation of knowledge of the Latvian language is either a certificate of completion of the Latvian school or passing a special exam in the Latvian language and history.

2) The abolition of the “ naturalization windows ” that impose age restrictions on the acquisition of citizenship. According to the system of “naturalization windows”, younger groups of non-citizens were given the opportunity to naturalize earlier than older groups of non-citizens, while gradually over time, the age at which citizenship was allowed to increase increased.

3) Naturalization of persons whose ancestors were Polish citizens on June 17, 1940, if they have been resident in Latvia for at least five years before applying for citizenship.

4) The right to grant citizenship for special services to no more than fifty persons annually passes from parliament to the government ^[5] .

44.89% of voters voted “for” the abrogation of amendments, and 52.54% voted “against”. Thus, the amendments were approved and entered into force. In Riga and Latgale, the majority of the votes were cast “against”, in Vidzeme, Kurzeme, Zemgale and in foreign sectors - “for”. The largest share of “yes” votes was in the Liepaja district (55.20%) and in foreign sectors (68.13%), the smallest - in Daugavpils (17.64%).

Results by area:

• The results of the referendum as a whole (above) (Latvian)
• Comparative table of the two versions of the Citizenship Law - without amendments and with them (Latvian)
• Referendum results by regions and constituencies (Latvian)
• Referendum on "Electoral Geography"