REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
LAW ON POLITICAL ORGANISATIONS
15 September 2022 No XIV-1415
(As last amended 27 September 2022 – No XIV-1429)
Vilnius
CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1. Purpose of the Law
1. This Law regulates the establishment of legal persons whose legal form is a political party or a political committee, their activities and rights, specific features of termination (reorganisation and liquidation) and restructuring thereof, as well as the procedure of funding of, and control over funding of, political parties and political committees.
2. This Law does not regulate the funding of, and control over funding of, political parties considered to be European political parties under Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations (hereinafter: ‘Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014’).
Article 2. Definitions
1. ‘Current bank account of an analysis centre’ means an account of an analysis centre with a bank registered in the Republic of Lithuania or a branch of a bank registered in another Member State of the European Union or in another state of the European Economic Area and operating in the Republic of Lithuania, in which funds of the analysis centre are kept and accrued and from which the expenses of the analysis centre are paid for the purpose of carrying out its statutory activities.
2. ‘Analysis centre’ means a non-profit public legal person of limited civil liability founded in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Public Establishments, the founder of which is a political party and the purpose of which is to carry out analytical, research and educational activities.
3. ‘Auditor's report of factual findings’ means a document in which an auditor provides results of independent inspection of a political organisation or an analysis centre and which is prepared in accordance with the procedure laid down by this Law, in compliance with the international standards on related services and in accordance with the terms of reference approved by the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Lithuania, defining the scope of work assigned to the auditor.
4. ‘Auditor’ means a natural person who holds an auditor’s certificate issued according to the procedure laid down by the Republic of Lithuania Law on Audit.
5. ‘European political foundation’ means a legal person having the status of a European political foundation who was established pursuant to Regulation (EU, Euratom) No. 1141/2014 of the European Parliament and the Council of 22 October 2014 on the statutes and funding of European political parties and European political foundations.
6. ‘National of a Member State of the European Union residing in the Republic of Lithuania’ means a national of another Member State of the European Union who under the conditions laid down by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Legal Status of Foreigners are entitled to reside in the Republic of Lithuania and who has been residing in the Republic of Lithuania Republic of Lithuania for not less than six months.
7. ‘Political organisation’ means a public legal person, namely, a political party or a political committee established under this Law and pursuing the objectives of satisfying the political interests of its members, assisting in expressing their political will and seeking to participate in the implementation of state and/or EU authority and in the exercise of the right of self-government.
8. ‘Political party’ means a public legal person having a name, established under this Law and pursuing the objectives of satisfying the political interests of its members, assisting in expressing their political will and seeking to participate in the implementation of state and EU authority and in the exercise of the right of self-government by participating in elections to the Seimas, elections to the office of President of the Republic, elections to the European Parliament, elections to municipal councils and elections of municipal mayors.
9. ‘Political party’s current bank account’ means an account of a political organisation with a bank registered in the Republic of Lithuania or a branch of a bank registered in another Member State of the European Union or in another state of the European Economic Area and operating in the Republic of Lithuania, in which funds of the political organisation are kept and accrued and from which the expenses are paid for the purpose of carrying out statutory activities of the political organisation.
10. ‘Founder of a political organisation’ means a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania or a citizen of a Member State of the European Union residing in the Republic of Lithuania who has attained 18 years of age and who is establishing a political organisation.
11. ‘State budget appropriations for a political party’ means the sum total of funds allocated for political parties, as fixed in a law on the approval of financial indicators of the state budget and municipal budgets for each year.
12. ‘Account of state budget appropriations for a political party’ means an account opened by a political party with a bank registered in the Republic of Lithuania or with a branch of a bank registered in another Member State of the European Union or in another state of the European Economic Area and operating in the Republic of Lithuania, in which the state budget appropriations received only in accordance with the procedure laid down by this Law are kept and accrued and from which expenses provided for in this Law are paid.
13. ‘Political foundation’ means a legal person established in Member States of the European Union or NATO member countries and pursuing the following tasks:
1) in fostering democratic values, to observe and analyse public policy of Member States of the European Union and/or NATO member countries, to participate in debates and organise them;
2) to carry out analytical and educational activities linked to public policy issues of Member States of the European Union and/or NATO member countries with a view to fostering democratic values (seminars, training, courses, conferences, studies, research, etc.);
14. ‘Political party’ means a public legal person having a name, established under this Law and pursuing the objectives of satisfying the political interests of its members, assisting in expressing their political will and seeking to participate in the implementation of EU authority and/or in the exercise of the right of self-government by participating in elections to the European Parliament, elections to municipal councils and/or elections of municipal mayors. A political committee shall be established to participate only in elections to the European Parliament or only in elections to a council of a specific municipality and/or mayor of a specific municipality.
15. ‘Monitoring of funding of political organisations’ means collection, storage, analysis and evaluation of data on funding of political organisations for the purposes set out by this Law.
16. ‘Person responsible for the accounting of a political organisation’ means a person who keeps accounts of a political organisation or an undertaking which provides accounting services under a contract, or a person appointed by the political organisation and responsible for keeping accounts of the political organisation in compliance with laws of the Republic of Lithuania.
Article 3. Right to join political organisations
Citizens of the Republic of Lithuania and citizens of Member States of the European Union residing in the Republic of Lithuania shall have the right to freely join political organisations, participate in their activities and withdraw from them.
Article 4. Basis of activity of a political organisation
1. In its activity, a political organisation shall be guided by the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania, this Law and other laws, its statutes and programme.
2. Political parties and political organisations of other states, their branches may not be established and may not act within the Republic of Lithuania. The said prohibition shall not apply to European political parties whose establishment and activities are governed by Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014.
3. It shall be prohibited to establish and operate political organisations whose instruments of incorporation or programme-related documents propagate or who practise national, racial, religious, or social inequality and hatred, methods of authoritarian or totalitarian rule, forcible seizure of power, war and violence propaganda, violations of human rights and freedoms, public order, other ideas and actions conflicting with the Constitution, laws of the Republic of Lithuania and inconsistent with universally-recognised rules of international law.
Article 5. Establishment of political organisations
1. Citizens of the Republic of Lithuania, nationals of Member States of the European Union residing in the Republic of Lithuania who have reached the age of 18 and are not members of the political parties or political organisations of other states, except their membership in European political parties whose establishment and activities are governed by Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014, may be founders and members of a political organisation.
2. Founders of a political organisation shall become members of this political organisation as of the recording of the political organisation in the Register of Legal Entities. At any given time, a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania or a national of a Member State of the European Union residing in the Republic of Lithuania may be a member of only one political organisation registered in the Republic of Lithuania.
3. In order to establish a political party it shall be necessary that the political party would have not less than 2 000 founders in the Republic of Lithuania. Founders of a political party or their representatives must, at a constituent assembly (meeting, conference) of the political party, adopt statutes and a programme of the political party and elect its governing bodies as well as take a decision regarding the seat of the political party. A founder of a political party may, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Civil Code, authorise another founder of the political party to represent him in a constituent assembly (meeting, conference) of the political party. One founder of a political party may, in line with the powers vested in him, represent not more than ten other founders of that political party.
4. In order to set up a political committee for participating in an election to the European Parliament, it must have at least 1 000 founders in the Republic of Lithuania.
5. In order to set up a political committee for participating in an election to a municipal council and/or an election of mayor of a municipality (hereinafter: a ‘mayor’), it shall be necessary that it be set up by at least 0.1 per cent of persons who have declared their place of residence in that municipality for at least half a year and that their number be at least twice the number of councillors of the municipality. Founders of a political committee or their representatives must, at a constituent assembly (meeting, conference) of the political committee, adopt statutes and a programme of the political committee and elect its governing bodies as well as take a decision regarding the seat of the political committee. A founder of a political committee may, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Civil Code, authorise another founder of the political committee to represent him in a constituent assembly (meeting, conference) of the political committee. One founder of a political committee may, in line with the powers vested in him, represent not more than ten other founders of that political committee.
6. Expenses related to the establishment of a political organisation may be paid only with own (personal) funds of the founders, without exceeding the amount of the political organisation’s membership fee as provided for in this Law. Expenses related to the establishment of the political organisation shall be included in financial accounting of the political organisation.
Article 6. Instrument of incorporation of a political organisation
1. A political organisation shall act in compliance with its statutes. The statutes of the political organisation shall be its instrument of incorporation.
2. The statutes of a political organisation must contain the following:
1) the name of the political organisation which may not be identical with or similar to the name of the registered political organisation or any other registered legal person, and the forenames and surnames of natural persons may not be used therein;
2) the legal form of the political organisation, that is a political party or a political committee;
4) the objectives of the political organisation. The objectives must be defined in a clear and detailed manner by indicating the areas and types of the activities;
5) the modalities for and procedure of the admission, resignation and exclusion of members of the political organisation;
8) the procedure of the establishment of branches of the political organisation and cessation of their activities;
9) the remit, periodicity of an assembly (meeting, conference) of the political organisation as well as the procedure for convening it and taking decisions;
10) the collegial governing bodies of the political organisation, their remit, the procedure for electing and recalling them, the period of time for which the collegial governing bodies may be elected, the procedure for taking decisions by them;
11) the procedure for electing and recalling the leader of the political organisation, his remit, the period of time for which he may be elected;
12) the procedure for reporting to an assembly (meeting, conference) by the governing bodies of the political organisation and the procedure for controlling their activities;
3. The statutes of a political organisation may also stipulate other provisions of activities of the political organisation that are in compliance with the Constitution, the Civil Code, this Law and other laws.
4. The statutes of a political organisation, which is being established, must be signed by a representative authorised by the founders of the political organisation. The amended statutes of the founded political organisation shall be signed by the leader of the political organisation.
Article 7. Branches of political parties
1. Political parties may establish branches, representative offices and other organisational units. Branches, representative offices and other organisational units of a political party shall not be legal persons. Branches and representative offices of a political party shall operate in accordance with the regulations approved by that political party. Upon the establishment of a branch or a representative office, the political party must, within 30 days of the establishment of the branch or representative office, file a set-form application for registration of the branch or the representative office in the Register of Legal Entities in accordance with the procedure laid down by the regulations of the Register of Legal Entities as approved by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. The procedure for establishing and liquidating other organisational units of the political party as well as their functions shall be defined by the statutes of the political party.
Article 8. Registration of political organisations
2. Legal persons registered otherwise than under this Law may not be restructured and registered as political organisations in the Register of Legal Entities.
3. The regulations of the Register of Legal Entities shall specify the documents to be submitted for registering and de-registering a political organisation, the procedure for registering and de-registering political organisations, for recording changes in the data and amendments of the statutes of political organisations.
4. Reliability of the data submitted by a political organisation to the Register of Legal Entities, compliance of the political organisation’s name, statutes, programmes or amendments thereof with the requirements of laws shall be attested and the documents confirming that a political organisation may be registered because the requirements laid down by this Law have been implemented and the circumstances provided for in this Law have emerged shall be written out by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania within 30 days of receiving all the documents and data specified in the regulations of the Register of Legal Entities.
5. In the event of failure to submit all the documents and data specified in the Register of Legal Entities, the Ministry of Justice shall, not later than within 15 days of receiving them, notify in writing a representative authorised by the founders of a political organisation, indicating the deficiencies to be remedied. When all the missing documents and data are submitted, a period of 30 days shall be counted anew from the submission of the documents and data.
6. The Ministry of Justice shall refuse to attest the reliability of the documents submitted by a political organisation and the compliance of its statutes, programme or the amendments thereof with the requirements of laws, if the purposes, objectives or methods of activities of the political organisation indicated in its statutes, programme or the amendments thereof conflict with the Constitution, the Civil Code, this Law or other laws, or the submitted data are inaccurate. When attesting the reliability of the submitted data or the compliance of the political organisation’s statutes, programme or the amendments thereof with the requirements of laws the Ministry of Justice shall have the right to appeal to other state institutions and receive conclusions from them.
7. Refusal of the Ministry of Justice to attest the reliability of the data submitted by a political organisation and the compliance of its statutes, programme or the amendments thereof with the requirements of laws may be appealed against to the court in accordance with the procedure laid down by law.
8. Political organisations shall be deemed to be established as of their registration in the Register of Legal Entities.
9. Each year but no later than by 1 March and by 1 October, a political organisation must, in accordance with the procedure laid down by an institution authorised by the Government, submit to the Ministry of Justice a list of members of the political organisation. In order to determine whether the members of a political organisation satisfy the requirements set out in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 5 of this Law, the list of the members of the political organisation submitted to the Ministry of Justice must specify the forename, surname, personal number, home address of each member of the political organisation, and if the member of the political organisation is a national of a Member State of the European Union residing in the Republic of Lithuania, nationality must also be specified in the list. These data must be signed by the leader of the political organisation or a person authorised by him. The Ministry of Justice shall check the lists of members of the political organisations and shall, no later than by 10 March and 10 October of each year, notify the Central Electoral Commission if the number of the members of the political party meets the requirements of this Law.
10. If a political organisation fails to submit the list of its members within one year in accordance with the procedure laid down in paragraph 9 of this Article, the Ministry of Justice shall notify the data processor of the Register of Legal Entities about this fact and the latter shall initiate liquidation of the political organisation in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Civil Code.
Article 9. Restructuring and termination of political organisations
1. Political organisations shall be restructured or terminated (reorganised or liquidated) in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Civil Code.
2. A decision to reorganise or liquidate a political organisation shall be taken by an assembly (meeting, conference) of the political organisation or by the court in the cases set out by law. In the presence of the circumstances provided for in the Civil Code, a political organisation may be liquidated by the decision of the data processor of the Register of Legal Entities.
3. When reorganising a political organisation by way of merger or division, where the conditions of reorganisation have been carried out, the political organisation shall, having ceased its activities following the reorganisation, submit to the Ministry of Justice the documents concerning the de-registration of the political organisation, and a new political organisation which was founded during the reorganisation and which is a successor to the rights of the political organisation which ceased its activities shall submit the documents for its registration. The political organisation which ceased its activities shall be de-registered and a new political organisation, which was founded during the reorganisation, shall be registered at the same time.
4. When reorganising a political organisation by way of joining or parcelling out, where the conditions of reorganisation have been fulfilled, the political organisation which joined another political organisation and which ceased its activities shall submit to the Ministry of Justice the documents for de-registration, and the political organisation which continues its activities and which takes over the rights and duties of the political organisation which ceased its activities shall submit documents concerning the registration of amendments of the data and the founding documents (if they have been amended). The political organisation which ceased its activities shall be de-registered and the amendments of the data and the founding documents of the political organisation which continues its activities shall be registered at the same time.
5. If a political organisation has fewer members left than the number of founders required for establishing a political organisation, this fact must, within 30 days and in accordance with the procedure laid down by the regulations of the Register of Legal Entities, be reported to the data processor of the Register of Legal Entities by the political organisation or the Ministry of Justice after having established in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 8(9) of this Law that the number of political organisation’s members does not satisfy the requirements of this Law. The political organisation shall be liquidated in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Civil Code if, within six months after the decrease in the number of the members, the members of the political organisation do not decide to reorganise or restructure the political organisation.
6. After all the creditors’ claims of a political organisation in liquidation have been satisfied in accordance with the procedure laid down by law, the remaining funds of the political organisation shall be transferred to the state budget, and the assets shall be transferred to the State prior to the de-registration of the political organisation.
Article 10. Freedom of activities of political organisations
All political organisations shall act freely and independently within the territory of the Republic of Lithuania. State and municipal institutions and agencies, their officials, other legal and natural persons shall be prohibited from interfering in internal affairs of political organisations.
Article 11. Restrictions as regards activities of political organisations
1. An organisational structure of political parties shall be based only on the territorial principle. Branches of political organisations may not be established and operate in workplaces.
2. The persons referred to in the cases provided for in the Constitution and laws, may not be members of political parties or must suspend their membership in a political organisation.
Article 12. Declaration of decisions of the bodies of political organisations invalid
Decisions of the bodies of political organisations may be declared invalid in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Civil Code.
Article 13. Right to participate in presidential elections, elections to the Seimas, to municipal councils, mayoral elections and elections to the European Parliament
1. Political parties shall have the equal rights to participate in presidential elections, elections to the Seimas, to municipal councils, mayoral elections and elections to the European Parliament
2. Political committees meeting the requirement set out Article 5(4) of this Law concerning the number of members shall enjoy equal rights to participate in elections to the European Parliament.
3. Political committees meeting the requirement set out in Article 5(5) of this Law concerning the number of members shall enjoy equal rights to participate in elections to municipal councils and mayoral elections.
Article 14. Right to build coalitions
Political organisations shall enjoy the right to build coalitions in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Electoral Code of the Republic of Lithuania.
Article 15. Right to disseminate information about activities of a political organisation
1. Political organisations shall enjoy the right to freely disseminate information in writing, orally or in any other way about their activities, to promote ideas, purposes and a programme.
Article 16. Right to organise mass events
Political organisations shall enjoy the right to hold meetings, pickets, demonstrations, processions, marches and other peaceful assemblies in accordance with the procedure laid down by laws of the Republic of Lithuania.
Article 17. Right to carry out other activities
Political organisations shall enjoy the right to engage in publishing, distribution of printed matter and symbols, management, use and disposal of assets belonging by the right of ownership, organisation of political and cultural events (lectures, exhibitions, etc.) as well as other activities. The funds received from the activities referred to in this Article may be used only for the purposes of activities of a political organisation indicated in the statutes of the political organisation.
Article 18. International relations of political organisations
Political organisations shall enjoy the right to maintain relations with political organisations of other countries, international organisations and other organisations.
Article 19. Sources of funding of political organisations
1. The only sources of funding of political organisations shall be as follows:
3) funds of the political organisation received from its other activities referred to in Article 17 of this Law;
4) loans granted to the political organisation by banks registered in the Republic of Lithuania or by branches of banks registered in another Member State of the European Union or in another state of the European Economic Area and operating in the Republic of Lithuania;
6) a voluntarily allocated amount equal to 0.6 per cent of the annual income tax paid by a Lithuanian resident;
2. Membership fees of a political organisation shall be as follows:
3. The statutes of a political organisation may set other types of membership fees which are not referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article.
4. A member of a political organisation may, during a calendar year, pay to the political organisation a membership fee not exceeding the amount of 20 average monthly earnings in the whole economy in the third quarter of the previous calendar year (hereinafter: ‘AMEs’). The amount of membership fees of a political organisation shall also include a part of the establishment expenses of the political organisation paid for during the calendar year. During a calendar year, the total amount of membership fees of a member of a political organisation may not exceed 10 per cent of the amount of the annual income declared by that member for the previous calendar year (when the membership fee is paid after 1 May) or for the calendar year preceding the previous calendar year (when the membership fee is paid before 1 May). If the total amount of membership fees of a member of a political organisation paid by that member exceeds EUR 360 during a year, the member must declare his assets and income. Before accepting a membership fee of a member of a political organisation the amount of which exceeds EUR 360 during a year, the person responsible for the accounting of that political organisation shall check on the information system of the Central Electoral Commission whether the membership fee of the member of the political organisation meets the amount requirements of this Law. Only a membership fee of a political organisation meeting the requirements of this Law shall be accepted. A membership fee of a political organisation which does not meet the requirements of this Law shall be considered an impermissible funding source of that political organisation.
5. A membership fee of a political organisation exceeding the amount of 0.3 AMEs must be paid only through bank transfer. A person responsible for the accounting of the political organisation shall transfer the membership fee of the political organisation received not through the bank transfer to the current bank account of the political organisation not later than within ten working days of receiving that membership fee.
6. Political organisations shall register their members who have paid the membership fees, indicating the amount of the paid membership fees. The membership fee registration record of a political organisation together with the set of annual financial statements shall be submitted to the Central Electoral Commission.
7. The funds received from the sources referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, except for points 2 and 7 of paragraph 1 of this Article, shall be kept by a political organisation in its current bank account from which the payments shall be made, unless such funds are used to finance political campaigning of the political organisation.
8. The state budget appropriations received according to the procedure laid down in Article 20 of this Law shall be kept by a political party in its account of state budget appropriations from which the payments shall be made, unless such funds are used to finance political campaigning of the political party.
9. Obligations of a political organisation to banks registered in the Republic of Lithuania or a branch of a bank registered in another Member State of the European Union or another state of the European Economic Area and operating in the Republic of Lithuania, where such obligations have been discharged by the guarantor, shall not be regarded as the source of funding of the political organisation. Upon the discharge by the guarantor of the obligation of the political organisation, the political organisation must repay the loan to the guarantor under the same conditions as were stipulated in the loan agreement, including the amount and interest of the loan. A natural person who is not a member of the political party or a legal person may not be a guarantor for the political organisation’s obligations.
10. Political organisations may collect donations intended for funding political campaigning only into a political campaign account and use them in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Electoral Code.
11. It shall be prohibited to finance political organisations with funds other than those referred to in this Article.
12. Upon receipt by a political organisation of funds from the impermissible sources of funding, when the source of funding is known, the person responsible for the accounting of the political organisation shall, within five working days of receiving the funds, return the funds to the person who transferred them, stating the reason for the refusal to accept the funds. In the event of failure to identify the source of funding within ten working days, a person responsible for the accounting of the political organisation shall transfer the funds to the state budget. The return or transfer of the funds, received from the impermissible sources of funding, to the state budget shall be suspended by the decision of the Central Electoral Commission, if criminal proceedings have been initiated/are conducted with regard to impermissible funding of a political party or investigation into the activities of the political party is carried out pursuant to Article 29 of this Law. The return of the funds to the person who has transferred them or the transfer of such funds to the state budget shall be continued by decision of the Central Electoral Commission in the event of termination of the pre-trial investigation, case or proceedings, or investigation into political organisation’s activities, also when a judgment of acquittal comes into force or a judgment of conviction becomes effective, but these funds are not confiscated. An institution which initiated the pre-trial investigation or investigation into the political organisation’s activities, or which terminated it shall notify the Central Electoral Commission about this.
13. If a political organisation accepts and uses funds from impermissible sources of funding of the political organisation, the Central Electoral Commission shall take a decision obliging the political organisation to transfer to the state budget within 20 working days the amount equal to the amount funds accepted and used by the political organisation from the impermissible sources of funding of the political organisation, except in cases where the political party has been denied state budget appropriations as a result of a serious infringement of this Law.
Article 20. State budget appropriations for political parties
1. State budget appropriations for political parties shall be provided for in an annual Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Approval of Financial Indicators of the State Budget and Municipal Budgets and shall be allocated through a separate budget programme executed by the Central Electoral Commission.
2. The total sum of state budget appropriations for political parties shall be fixed in the state budget.
3. Where the Central Electoral Commission recognises that a political party has grossly breached this Law or has made a gross violation of the funding of political campaigning, such political party shall not be allocated state budget appropriations for a period from six months to two years after the entry into force of the decision. Where it is found that a political party has grossly breached the requirements laid down in Article 26(4) of this Law, such political party shall not, by decision of the Central Electoral Commission, be allocated state budget appropriations corresponding to the value of the contracts which were concluded in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Public Procurement, but not advertised. The state budget appropriations which are not allocated due to the said reasons shall be returned to the state budget.
4. State budget appropriations for political parties may be used only:
5) taxes and other contributions to the state budget, to pay compulsory state social insurance contributions and compulsory health insurance contributions;
8) to repay loans taken by the political party and intended for the expenses referred to in points 3, 4, 5 and 6 of this paragraph;
5. State budget appropriations may not be used to cover the expenses referred to in points 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 of paragraph 4 of this Article, if such expenses where incurred when carrying out the activities provided for in Article 17 of this Law. Accounting for funds used for the activities provided for in Article 17 of this Law shall be carried out separately from accounting for the use of state budget appropriations.
6. Liabilities of third persons may not be guaranteed or secured with state budget funds, or damage caused by third persons may not be covered with state budget funds.
7. A political party must specify the use of state budget appropriations in a report on the use of state budget appropriations which is submitted together with a set of annual financial statements of the political party.
8. The state budget appropriations which have not been used during a year shall remain in the political party’s account of state budget appropriations and may be used next year for the funding of the activities referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article.
Article 21. Procedure for calculating the amount of state budget appropriations to fund activities of political parties, distribution and payment of such appropriations
1. Political parties, which are registered in the Register of Legal Entities in accordance with the procedure laid down by law and which satisfy statutory requirements regarding the number of political party members and the reform or liquidation procedure has not been initiated in respect of them, shall be entitled to state budget appropriations to fund activities of the political parties.
2. State budget appropriations to fund activities of political parties shall be allocated to those political parties satisfying the criteria set out in paragraph 1 of this Article which received not less than 2 per cent of all the votes cast by the voters for the candidates of the political parties in those elections to the Seimas, municipal councils, the European Parliament according to the results of which these state budget appropriations are allocated.
3. State budget appropriations to fund activities of political parties shall be allocated according to the valid results of the elections to the Seimas, municipal councils, the European Parliament (rerun election, by-election and run-off voting) in which the powers of the elected candidates have not been terminated or upon their termination a vacant place was occupied without holding elections:
1) according to the results of the last election to the Seimas, municipal councils, the European Parliament in a multi-member constituency. In the case of the coalition list of nominated candidates, the number of the received votes shall be distributed to the political parties in proportion to the number of the candidates on the coalition list;
2) according to the results of the last election to the Seimas, the last rerun election, the last by-election in the single-member constituencies. If several political parties nominated a candidate, the votes received by the candidate shall be distributed equally among the political parties which nominated him;
3) according to the results of the last run-off voting in the single-member constituencies of the election to the Seimas. If upon the election of a Member of the Seimas at the election, rerun election or by-election, the run-off voting has not been held, the results of the last election, rerun election or by-election in the particular single-member constituency shall be taken instead of the results of the run-off voting. If several political parties nominated a candidate, the votes received by the candidate shall be distributed equally among the political parties which nominated him.
4. According to the valid results of the elections referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article, the allocation of state budget appropriations shall commence in six months following the beginning of a new legislative term of the Seimas, municipal councils, the European Parliament and continue for as many half-years as the legislative term of the Seimas, municipal councils, the European Parliament lasts, unless early elections are held.
5. The amount of state budget appropriations to fund activities of political parties, which are allocated for a political party, shall be determined in accordance with the following procedure:
1) by summing up only the votes of voters cast for the candidates of those political parties for which state budget appropriations may be allocated under paragraph 2 of this Article to fund activities of the political party, the number of all votes is determined;
2) a six-month financial coefficient of one voter’s vote is established by dividing the half of the state budget appropriations designated for funding activities of the political party by the number of votes of all the voters;
3) the six-month appropriations of the half state budget allocated for the political party to fund activities of the political party is determined by multiplying a six-month financial coefficient of one voter’s vote by the number of votes of the voters who cast votes for the candidates of this political party;
4) if a candidate or a list of candidates nominated by the political party in a single-member constituency has been recognised as having grossly breached the requirements of the Electoral Code, the votes cast for that candidate in the single-member constituency or for that list of candidates shall not be counted when allocating the state budget appropriations.
6. The amount of state budget appropriations allocated for a political party to fund its activities shall be determined by the Central Electoral Commission in accordance with the procedure laid down by this Article; the Commission shall, not later than by 15 April and 15 November of each year, transfer the said amount to the political party’s account of state budget appropriations. If at the end of a calendar year there are court disputes concerning a decision of the Central Electoral Commission whereby the state budget appropriations have not been allocated to the political party under Article 20 of this Law, the unallocated state budget appropriations shall be transferred to the deposit account of the Central Electoral Commission and kept therein until the court decision becomes effective.
Article 22. Property and funds of political organisations
1. A political organisation may have current and fixed assets to pursue the purposes of the political organisation as specified in its statutes.
3. Political organisations shall cover their debts related to their political campaigning with their own funds.
Article 23. Financial accounting and reporting
1. Keeping accounts of political organisations shall be governed by this Law, the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Financial Accounting as well as other legal acts governing financial accounting and financial reporting.
2. At the end of a calendar year, a person responsible for financial accounting of a political organisation shall prepare an annual set of financial statements of the political organisation. The following annexes shall be prepared together with the annual set of financial statements of the political organisation: a report on the use of state budget appropriations, a report on the funding of activities of the political organisation identifying the sources of funding and expenditure of the activities of the political organisation, as well as information about the disseminated political advertising and the sources of its funding.
3. An annual set of financial statements of a political organisation shall consist of:
4. An annual set of financial statements of a political organisation and the annexes thereto referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article shall be signed by the chair of the political organisation or a person appointed by the management body of the political organisation responsible for the accounting of the political organisation.
5. Each year but not later than by 15 March, political organisations shall submit to the Central Electoral Commission an approved annual set of financial statements of the political organisation for the previous calendar year and the annexes thereto referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article as well as the auditor’s report of factual findings, if such a report is mandatory, and the membership fee registration record of the political organisation. When necessary, the Central Electoral Commission shall have the right to get access to the documents substantiating the data provided in the annual set of financial statements of the political organisation.
6. Political organisations shall, no later than one month after the end of each quarter of a calendar year, submit to the Central Electoral Commission, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the latter, the bank statements of the political organisation’s bank accounts for the preceding quarter of the calendar year.
Article 24. Control of funding of political organisations and analysis centres
1. Funding of political organisations and analysis centres shall be controlled by the Central Electoral Commission and other institutions within their remit in accordance with the procedure laid down by law.
2. The Central Electoral Commission shall:
1) approve model forms of the annexes and the membership fee registration records of a political organisation referred to in Article 23(2) and Article 35(2) of this Law as well as the description of the procedure for filling out and submitting the above mentioned documents;
2) after consultation with the Lithuanian Chamber of Auditors, approve the terms of reference for audit firms carrying out inspection of political organisations and analysis centres, determining the scope of work carried out by the auditors;
3) control, in accordance with the procedure laid down by it, the compliance by political organisations and analysis centres with the requirements of this Law and propose to hold them liable for the infringements of this Law or to appeal to other institutions whose remit granted by law allow to verify the compliance with the requirements laid down by law;
4) create conditions and be responsible that the annual sets of financial statements of political organisations and the annexes thereto referred to in Article 23(2) and Article 35(2) of this Law would be published on its website immediately after the receipt thereof and would be updated so that the said data would conform to the obtained information;
5) create conditions and be responsible for publishing on its website the lists of members of political organisations who have paid the membership fees exceeding EUR 360 per calendar year, indicating the forenames and surnames of the members of the political parties and the amounts paid;
6) create conditions and be responsible for publishing on its website monthly reports of the analysis centres on the funds received;
3. The Central Electoral Commission shall be responsible for continuous timely provision of information about violations of funding of political organisations to the Special Investigation Service of the Republic of Lithuania, and to the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania.
4. The National Audit Office of Lithuania shall, in accordance with the procedure laid down by laws and other legal acts, audit the use of state budget appropriations allocated to political parties.
5. Decisions of the Central Electoral Commission obliging political organisations and analysis centres to transfer funds from impermissible sources of funding to the state budget under this Law shall, in accordance with the Republic of Lithuania Code of Civil Procedure, be considered to be executive documents.
Article 25. Independent inspection
1. A political organisation which during a calendar year has received the sum of revenue equal to or exceeding 200 AMEs or has been allocated state budget appropriations must conclude with an audit firm or an auditor an inspection contract in respect of that political organisation.
2. An analysis centre, which during a calendar year has received the sum of revenue equal to or exceeding 100 AMEs or has received from a political party the funds of state budget appropriations allocated to that political party, must conclude an inspection contract with an audit firm or an auditor .
3. The inspection of political organisations and analysis centres which during a calendar year have received the sum of revenue lower than the amount referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article shall be organised by the Central Electoral Commission. In order to carry out independent inspection of a political organisation or an analysis centre referred to in this paragraph, the Central Electoral Commission shall have the right to purchase services of audit firms or auditors in accordance with the procedure laid down by legal acts.
4. The auditor:
1) must carry out an inspection of a political organisation or an analysis centre in compliance with legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania according to the terms of reference approved by the Central Electoral Commission which sets the scope of the work performed by the auditor;
Article 26. Publicity of funding
1. For reasons of publicity and transparency, annual sets of financial statements of political organisations together with the annexes referred to in Article 23(2) of this Law and the auditor’s report of factual findings as well as the lists of members of the political organisations who have paid a membership fee exceeding EUR 360 per calendar year shall be open to the public and published for an unlimited period of time.
2. Annual sets of financial statements of analysis centres together with their annexes referred to in Article 35(2) of this Law, monthly reports on the funds received and auditor’s reports of factual findings shall be open to the public and published for an unlimited period of time.
3. Every person who under the Electoral Code may fund political campaign participants, or a representative of the public information producer or disseminator, having produced the document confirming this, shall be entitled to get access at the Central Electoral Commission to an annual set of financial statements of any political organisation or analysis centre as well as the annexes thereto and to make public the data contained therein through the media.
4. Political organisations and analysis centres who are contracting organisations under the Law on Public Procurement shall, not later than within 20 working days from the award of a contract, publish on their websites all the contracts awarded pursuant to the Law on Public Procurement, regardless of the exceptions laid down for contracting organisations under the Law on Public Procurement. After the end of a reference calendar year, political organisations and analysis centres shall, not later than within 30 working days, publish on their websites the reports submitted to the Public Procurement Office.
Article 27. Monitoring of funding of political organisations and analysis centres
1. Monitoring of funding of political organisations and analysis centres shall be carried out on a regular basis.
2. The Central Electoral Commission shall carry out the monitoring of funding of political organisations and analysis centres.
3. The methods and procedure of the monitoring of funding of political organisations and analysis centres shall be laid down by the Central Electoral Commission.
4. When carrying out the monitoring of funding of political organisations and analysis centres, the Central Electoral Commission shall have the right to purchase, in accordance with the procedure laid down by legal acts, monitoring services in regard to funding of political organisations and analysis centres.
5. The Central Electoral Commission shall regularly publish the summarised monitoring data on the funding of political organisations and analysis centres on its website. Control institutions shall, within their remit, be provided with detailed monitoring data on the funding of political organisations and analysis centres, while a political organisation or an analysis centre shall be provided only with the data on its activities.
6. When carrying out the monitoring of funding of political organisations and analysis centres, the Central Electoral Commission shall have the right contact political organisations and analysis centres in writing and obtain information from them. Political organisations and analysis centres must, not later than prior to the expiry of the time limit specified in the note of the Central Electoral Commission, provide the Commission with any available information and documents necessary for performing its functions. In the event of failure to provide the information or the documents necessary for taking a decision on whether or not the political organisation has carried out a serious infringement of this Law, the Central Electoral Commission shall have the right to suspend the assignment of state budget appropriations until the information and the documents referred to in this paragraph are provided.
Article 28. Liability of a political organisation
A political organisation shall respond to its obligations with its own assets. A political organisation shall not respond to its members’ obligations and its members shall not respond to the political organisation’s obligations.
Article 29. Investigation into activities of political organisations
1. Investigation into activities of a political organisation shall be conducted in compliance with the provisions of Chapter X of Book Two of the Civil Code. These provisions of the Civil Code shall apply to the extent that investigation into activities of a political organisation is not governed otherwise by this Law.
2. The prosecutor shall have the right to request the court to appoint experts so that they investigate whether a political organisation, its governing bodies or their members have acted properly.
3. The following actions of a political organisation shall be considered improper when:
1) the political organisation takes decisions to use the funds obtained from the impermissible sources of funding of the political organisation for the political organisation’s activities;
4. If it is established that activities of a political organisation is improper, the court may apply one of the following measures:
1) to temporarily terminate the powers of members of the governing bodies of the political organisation;
2) to obligate the political organisation, its governing bodies or their members to carry out specific actions or refrain from carrying out them;
Article 30. Serious infringements of this Law
1. The following shall be considered to be serious infringements of this Law:
1) provision of knowingly false data in an annual set of financial statements of a political organisation;
3) loss of the documents subject to safekeeping, other activities which make it impossible to determine whether the annual set of financial statements of the political organisation is accurate;
2. The Central Electoral Commission shall take a decision whether a political organisation has seriously infringed this Law.
Article 31. Basic principles of activities of analysis centres
1. An analysis centre of a political party whose legal form is a public establishment may be set up for the implementation of the objectives of the political party.
2. The setting-up, activities and termination of analysis centres shall be regulated by the Law on Public Establishments to the extent this Law and other laws do not provide otherwise.
3. A political party may set up only one analysis centre and be the owner of only one analysis centre. An analysis centre may not be acquired, transferred, restructured or reorganised. An analysis centre may have only one founder and owner, that is a political party.
4. An analysis centre shall be set up and liquidated by a decision of the governing body of a political party, unless the statutes of the political party provide otherwise.
5. Decisions falling within the remit of the owner of an analysis centre shall be adopted by the governing body of a political party, unless the statutes of the political party provide otherwise.
Article 32. Sources of funding of analysis centres
1. Sources of funding of an analysis centre shall be limited to the following:
2) proceeds from the distribution of publications, printed matter and merchandise, the management, use and disposal of owned property, tickets for events (lectures, exhibitions, trainings, etc.) or other participation fees;
5) funds of political foundations established in a Member State of the European Union or NATO and included in the List of Reliable Political Funds;
6) loans granted to the analysis centre by banks registered in the Republic of Lithuania or by branches of banks registered in another Member State of the European Union or in another state of the European Economic Area and operating in the Republic of Lithuania;
2. Analysis centres must keep the funds received from the political party’s account of state budget appropriation in a separate bank account and make payments from this account.
3. In all cases, analysis centres shall be prohibited from receiving funding from private legal persons, as well as from receiving funds directly and indirectly from entities whose operational objectives are incompatible with the state interests, constitutional values and national security of the Republic of Lithuania.
4. Analysis centres shall be prohibited from accepting funding from a political foundation in respect of which there are indications that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the political foundation in question receives funding from persons whose activities are incompatible with the state interests of the Republic of Lithuania, constitutional values and national security or whose funds transferred to the analysis centre are formed from funds transferred by private persons or other assets.
5. Upon receipt by an analysis centre of funds from the impermissible sources of funding, when the source of funding is known, the analysis centre must, within five working days of receiving the funds, return the funds to the person who transferred them, stating the reason for the refusal to accept the funds. In the event of failure to identify the source of funding within ten working days, the funds shall be transferred to the state budget. By decision of the Central Electoral Commission, the return or transfer to the state budget of the funds received by the analysis centre from the impermissible sources of funding shall be suspended if criminal proceedings have been initiated/are being carried out as a result of the impermissible funding of the analysis centre, or if investigation is being carried out into the activities of the analysis centre in accordance with Article 29 of this Law. By decision of the Central Electoral Commission, the return of the funds to the person who has transferred them or the transfer of such funds to the state budget shall be continued in the event of termination of the pre-trial investigation, case or proceedings, or investigation into the activities of the analysis centre, also when a judgment of acquittal comes into force or a judgment of conviction becomes effective, but these funds are not confiscated. An institution which initiated the pre-trial investigation or investigation into activities of the analysis centre, or which terminated such investigation shall notify the Central Electoral Commission about this.
6. If an analysis centre has received funds from the impermissible sources of funding of analysis centres and has used them, the Central Electoral Commission shall take a decision obliging the analysis centre to transfer within 20 working days to the state budget an amount equal to the amount accepted or used by the analysis centre from the impermissible sources of funding of analysis centres.
Article 33. Credibility of a political foundation
1. Analysis centres may accept funds only from political foundations which, by decision of the Central Electoral Commission, are included in the List of Reliable Political Foundations.
2. Seeking that a political foundation be included in the List of Reliable Political Foundations, an analysis centre must address a request to the Central Electoral Commission. The analysis centre must submit the following together with the request to enter the political foundation on the list of Reliable Political Foundations:
4) data on the head of the political foundation, another member of the governing or supervisory body or any other person who is/are entitled to represent the political foundation or control it, take decisions on behalf of the political foundation, conclude transactions, a person/persons keeping accounts or another person/persons entitled to draw up and sign accounting documents of the political foundation (hereinafter: ‘responsible persons’);
3. The Central Electoral Commission, having received a request to enter a political foundation on the List of Reliable Political Foundations, shall apply to the State Security Department of the Republic of Lithuania, the Financial Crime Investigation Service under the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania, the Police Department under the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania, and the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Special Investigation Service, the State Tax Inspectorate under the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania, the Second Investigation Department under the Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Lithuania, and, if it decides, to other institutions (hereinafter: the ‘competent authorities’), to see whether they have information within their remit that the political foundation is not reliable.
4. A political foundation shall be considered not to be reliable if the competent authorities have information that the political foundation, its responsible persons and/or the persons financing the foundation:
1) maintain or, in the past, maintained relations with institutions of foreign states or natural or legal persons from those states which increase the risk or pose a threat to national security;
2) maintain or, in the past, maintained relations with organised groups, special services or groupings of foreign states related to international terrorist organisations or maintaining relations with persons suspected of membership thereof which increase the risk or pose a threat to national security;
3) or at least one of them have/has, by an effective court judgment, been found guilty, are/is suspected or are/is accused of a grave, serious or less serious crime under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania or of a crime under the criminal laws of foreign states, corresponding to the elements of a grave, serious or less serious crime specified in the Special Part of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania, or are/is subject to criminal prosecution for commission of the said crime;
5) following the tax inspections, investigations, have been found to have committed infringements of tax laws;
6) are the entities which are subject to organised crime prevention measures under the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Prevention of Organised Crime;
8) are the entities in respect of which there is evidence to reasonably believe that the corruption risk factors involving the political foundation, its responsible persons or persons financing the foundation may lead to a risk of corruption or a risk of damage to electoral or referendum procedures, to the funding of political parties and political campaigns.
5. Competent authorities shall provide the Central Electoral Commission with the information on the reliability of a specific political foundation not later than within 20 working days.
6. The Central Electoral Commission shall evaluate the information received from the competent authorities and, on the basis of this information, take a decision on the inclusion of a political foundation in the List of Reliable Political Foundations. The Central Electoral Commission shall refuse to include a political foundation in the List of Reliable Political Foundations if there is evidence from the competent authorities that they have the information referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article about the unreliability of the political foundation, and also if the political foundation has been operating for less than five years.
7. The Central Electoral Commission must within one month consider the received request of an analysis centre to enter a political foundation on the List of Reliable Political Foundations and take a decision thereon. The time during which the competent authorities consider the request of the Central Electoral Commission concerning information about the reliability of the political foundation shall not be included in the time during which the Central Electoral Commission must take a decision referred to in paragraph 6 of this Article.
8. Upon receiving from the competent authorities the replies that they do not have the data about a political foundation referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article, the Central Electoral Commission shall include this political foundation in the List of Reliable Political Foundations. When the competent authorities inform the Central Electoral Commission that they do not have any information about a political foundation, it shall be considered that the political foundation is not reliable.
9. After receiving funding from a political foundation, an analysis centre shall, by 15 March of the next year, provide the Central Electoral Commission with the data about the persons who have financed the political foundation during the last two years. The Central Electoral Commission shall provide these data to the responsible institutions in order to determine whether they are, within their remit, in possession of the data referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article about the persons who financed the political foundation.
10. If an analysis centre fails to timely provide data about the persons who funded a political foundation during the last two years or provides knowingly false data or the competent authorities provide the data referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article, the funds received by the analysis centre from the political foundation shall, by decision of the Central Electoral Commission, be transferred to the state budget, and the political foundation shall be removed from the List of Reliable Political Foundations.
11. An analysis centre shall be responsible for submitting financial documents of a political foundation to the Central Electoral Commission or these documents may be submitted directly by the political foundation itself.
12. Upon completing the investigation of activities and funding of an analysis centre, the Central Electoral Commission shall have the right:
1) to order the analysis centre not to accept or use the funds and to return the funds received to the donor if the donor’s activities are contrary to, or incompatible with, the provisions of this Law, and the time limit for the return of the funds received has not expired. If it is impossible to return the received funds to the donor thereof or the time limit for the return of the funds has expired, the analysis centre shall, by decision of the Central Electoral Commission, transfer the funds to the state budget within the time limits laid down in this Law;
2) to initiate investigation of activities of the analysis centre in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 29 of this Law. The provisions of this Law and other laws governing the investigation of activities of political organisations shall apply mutatis mutandis to the investigation of activities of analysis centres.
13. A political foundation shall be removed from the List of Reliable Political Foundations by decision of the Central Electoral Commission in the following circumstances:
2) the data referred to in this Article about the unreliability of the political foundation has been received;
14. In the event of a change in the instruments of incorporation of a political foundation, the responsible persons, an analysis centre shall immediately notify thereof the Central Electoral Commission, which decides whether the political foundation meets the requirements of this Law.
15. A description of the procedure for checking the reliability of the political foundations to be included in the List of Reliable Political Foundations and inspecting the sources of funds of the political foundations which have allocated funding to analysis centres shall be approved by the Government.
Article 34. Restrictions on activities of analysis centres
1. An analysis centre may not act in order to evade the political campaign funding procedure laid down in the Electoral Code.
2. An analysis centre may provide services only to the owner, i.e. a political party, participants in events (training) organised by the analysis centre and receive remuneration therefor.
3. Restrictions on activities of analysis centres:
1) the use of symbols of any political party, images, forenames and surnames of political leaders and candidates nominated by political parties or otherwise clearly identifying political data shall be prohibited in events organised and disseminated by the analysis centre, unless it is the provision of direct political advertising services to the founder of the analysis centre;
2) the means of publicity and advertising of activities of the analysis centre may not be used as hidden political advertising and violate the procedure of political advertising. Advertising and other means of informing about regular continuing activities, events, training, etc. of the analysis centre, provided that the requirements referred to in point 1 of paragraph 3 of this Article are complied with, shall not be considered political advertising;
3) the analysis centre shall be prohibited from providing gratuitous services to the owner or providing economically unjustified services, if these services are intended for political campaigning. The services the provision of which is financed (subsidised) by the analysis centre from its own income other than the owner’s direct remuneration for the services provided by the analysis centre, as well as any other services provided at a price below cost, are economically unjustified;
Article 35. Financial accounting and reporting of analysis centres
1. Keeping accounts of analysis centres shall be governed by the Law on Public Establishments, the Law on Financial Accounting as well as other legal acts governing financial accounting and financial reporting. This Law shall lay down additional requirements for keeping accounts and for reports applicable to analysis centres. The Central Electoral Commission shall approve the forms of documents comprising an annual set of financial statements as well as other reports of an analysis centre referred to in this Article, descriptions of the procedure for completing, submitting and publishing them.
2. The following annexes shall be prepared together with an annual set of financial statements of an analysis centre:
3) a report on the funding of activities of the analysis centre indicating the sources and costs of funding the activities of the analysis centre, distinguishing separately the expenses paid with the funds received from the account of state budget appropriations for political parties and the services provided to the owner for the purposes of political campaigning.
3. Each year but not later than by 15 March, an analysis centre shall submit to the Central Electoral Commission an approved annual set of financial statements for the previous calendar year accompanied by the annexes referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, as well as an activity report and an auditor’s report, if such a report is mandatory according to the Law on Public Establishments. When necessary, the Central Electoral Commission shall have the right to get access to the documents substantiating the data provided in the annual set of financial statements of the analysis centre.
Article 36. Control of funding of analysis centres
Funding of analysis centres shall be controlled by the Central Electoral Commission and other institutions within their remit, in accordance with the procedure laid down by law.
Article 37. Repealing of the Law
Republic of Lithuania Law No I-606 on Political Parties with all the amendments and supplements shall be repealed.
Article 38. Entry into force, implementation and application of the Law
2. Political parties founded prior to the entry into force of this Law shall, within 12 months from the entry into force of this Law, coordinate their statutes with the provisions of this Law and record amendments of their statutes in the Register of Legal Entities.
4. The provision of Article 13(4) of this Law shall not apply to the organisation of elections to municipal councils and mayors in 2023. Political organisations registered not later than 85 days prior to polling day of the elections to municipal councils and mayors in 2023 may participate in these elections. The founders of the political committees which intend to participate in the elections to municipal councils and mayors in 2023 must submit to the Ministry of Justice a certificate confirming the declaration of the place of residence confirming that the committee members have been residing in a particular municipality for at least half a year.
5. A political party meeting the criteria referred to in Article 21(1) of this Law which, prior to the entry into force of this Law and in compliance with the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Political Parties, was a parliamentary party registered after the election to the Seimas in 2020 and was entitled to receive state budget appropriations shall be entitled to these appropriations until the date of official proclamation of the first results of regular election to the Seimas following the entry into force of this Law, but not longer than until 1 January 2025, if it does not acquire the right to receive state budget appropriations under this Law. State budget appropriations shall be recalculated after each election and their amount shall be equal to the smallest state budget appropriations allocated for a political party having a political group in the Seimas in the previous calendar year multiplied by the ratio between the number of members of the political group of a political party established after the election to the Seimas in 2020 and the number of members of the political group of the least funded political party having the political group in the Seimas. The payment of state budget appropriations shall be interrupted if a political party receiving them is reorganised by way of merger in the same calendar year during which it was allocated the state budget appropriations with another political party to which the state budget appropriations are allocated in accordance with Article 21(1) to (5) of this Law.
8. This Law shall be supplemented with Article 81 as of 1 January 2025:
‘Article 81. Register of Members of Political Organisations
2. The object of the Register of Members of Political Organisations shall be members of political organisations. The following data of members of a political organisation shall be managed in this Register: forename, surname, personal number, home address, citizenship, dates of beginning and expiration of membership in the political organisation.
3. The purpose of the Register of Members of Political Organisations shall be to register the objects referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, collect, accumulate, process, systematise, store the data of the Register of Members of Political Organisations and submit them to state and municipal institutions and agencies, other state registers and state information systems, the State-authorised persons performing the functions laid down by law, also to natural and legal persons in accordance with the procedure laid down by laws and other legal acts.
4. The controller of the Register of Members of Political Organisations as well as the personal data processed in the Register shall be the Ministry of Justice.
5. The data processor of the Register of Members of Political Organisations shall be appointed by resolution of the Government approving the regulations of the Register of Members of Political Organisation.
6. The procedure for registering members of a political organisation in the Register of Members of Political Organisations as well as de-registering them shall be laid down in the regulations of the Register.
7. A person shall become a member of a political organisation from the date of recording of his data in the Register of Members of Political Organisations. A person’s membership of a political organisation shall terminate on the day of the removal of his entry from the Register of Members of Political Organisations.
8. Following a decision taken by a political organisation in accordance with the procedure laid down in its statutes to admit a person to the political organisation or following the receipt of a request of a member of the political organisation to terminate membership in the political organisation, the head of the political organisation or a person authorised by him shall submit the data of the new member of the political organisation or the person who has terminated membership to the data processor of the Register of Members of Political Organisations not later than within five working days of taking the decision to admit the member to the political organisation or from the receipt of the request of the member of the political organisation to terminate his membership. The established political organisation shall submit its list of members to the data processor of the Register of Members of Political Organisations not later than within five working days of the registration of the political organisation in the Register of Legal Entities.
9. A member of a political organisation may terminate his membership in the political organisation in accordance with the procedure laid down in the statutes of the political organisation or by submitting an application to the data processor of the Register of Members of Political Organisations. In the event that the head of the political organisation or a person authorised by him fails, within the time limit laid down in paragraph 8 of this Article, to provide data to the data processor of the Register of Members of Political Organisations regarding the termination of membership in the political organisation, the member of the political organisation who has received, in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Regulations of the Register of Members of Political Organisations, confirmation of the termination of membership in the political organisation may submit to the data processor of the Register of Members of Political Organisations in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Regulations of this Register.
10. The data processor of the Register of Members of Political Organisations may refuse to register the object of the Register only in the following cases:
1) the head of a political organisation or a person authorised by him has filed an application for registration of the object of this Register or to modify the data of the Register without having such a right;
3) not all the data referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article are indicated in the filed application or they are inaccurate or misleading;
4) the indicated personal data have been entered on the list of members of another political organisation;
11. Refusal to register the object of the Register of Members of Political Organisations, to change its data, to de-register the object may be brought before the court in accordance with the procedure laid down by law.
12. The data of the Register of Members of Political Organisations shall have a prima facie effect and be processed and stored in compliance with this Law, the regulations of the Register of Members of Political Organisations and other legal acts. Any changes to the data shall become effective only from the date of their recording in the Register of Members of Political Organisations.
13. The objects of the Register of Members of Political Organisations shall be registered in, and de-registered from, the Register of Members of Political Organisations and the Register data shall be recorded and changed free of charge.
14. The data and information of the Register of Members of Political Organisations, documents submitted to this Register and/or copies thereof shall be provided for remuneration, save for the exceptions laid down in the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on State Information Resources, legal acts of the European Union and the regulations of the Register of Members of Political Organisations.’
9. Article 9(5) of this Law shall read as follows as of 1 January 2025:
‘5. If the number of founders left in a political organisation is less than the number of founders required for its establishment and the members of this political organisation do not, within one year from the decrease in the number of members, decide to reorganise, transform or liquidate the political organisation, the data processor of the Register of Legal Entities shall initiate liquidation of the political organisation in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 2.70 of the Civil Code.’
I promulgate this Law passed by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania.