CHAPTER VI. THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC
Article 77
The President of the Republic shall be Head of State.
He shall represent the State of Lithuania and shall perform everything with which he is charged by the Constitution and laws.
Article 78
A Lithuanian citizen by origin, who has lived in Lithuania for not less than the last three years, if he has reached the age of not less than 40 prior to the election day, and if he may be elected a Member of the Seimas, may be elected President of the Republic.
The President of the Republic shall be elected by the citizens of the Republic of Lithuania for a five-year term by universal, equal, and direct suffrage by secret ballot.
The same person may not be elected President of the Republic for more than two consecutive terms.
Article 79
Any citizen of the Republic of Lithuania who meets the conditions set forth in the First Paragraph of Article 78 and has collected the signatures of not less than 20,000 voters shall be registered as a presidential candidate.
The number of candidates for the post of the President of the Republic shall not be limited.
Article 80
Regular elections of the President of the Republic shall be held on the last Sunday two months before the expiration of the term of office of the President of the Republic.
Article 81
The candidate for the post of the President of the Republic who, during the first voting in which not less than half of all the voters participate, receives the votes of more than half of all the voters who participated in the election, shall be deemed elected. If less than half of all the voters participate in the election, the candidate who receives the greatest number of votes, but not less than 1/3 [one-third] of the votes of all the voters, shall be deemed elected.
If, during the first voting round, no single candidate gets the requisite number of votes, a repeat voting shall be held after two weeks pitting the two candidates who received the greatest number of votes against each other. The candidate who receives more votes thereafter shall be deemed elected.
If no more than two candidates take part in the first round, and neither of them receives the requisite number of votes, a repeat election shall be held.
Article 82
The elected President of the Republic shall take office on the day following the expiration of the term of office of the President of the Republic, after he, in Vilnius, in the presence of the representatives of the Nation, the Members of the Seimas, takes an oath to the Nation to be faithful to the Republic of Lithuania and the Constitution, to conscientiously fulfil the duties of his office, and to be equally just to all.
The re-elected President of the Republic shall also take the oath.
The act of oath of the President of the Republic shall be signed by him and by the President of the Constitutional Court, or, in the absence of the latter, by a justice of the Constitutional Court.
Article 83
The President of the Republic may not be a Member of the Seimas, may not hold any other office, and may not receive any remuneration other than the remuneration established for the President of the Republic as well as remuneration for creative activities.
A person elected President of the Republic must suspend his activities in political parties and political organization until the beginning of a new campaign of the election of the President of the Republic.
Article 84
The President of the Republic:
- shall decide the basic issues of foreign policy and, together with the Government, conduct foreign policy;
- shall sign international treaties of the Republic of Lithuania and submit them to the Seimas for ratification;
- shall appoint and recall, upon the submission of the Government, diplomatic representatives of the Republic of Lithuania to foreign states and international organization; receive letters of credence and recall of diplomatic representatives of foreign states; confer the highest diplomatic ranks and special titles;
- shall appoint, upon the assent of the Seimas, the Prime Minister, charge him to form the Government, and approve its composition;
- shall dismiss, upon the assent of the Seimas, the Prime Minister;
- shall accept the powers returned by the Government upon the election of a new Seimas, and charge it to exercise its duties until a new Government is formed;
- shall accept the resignation of the Government and, as necessary, charge it to continue exercising its duties or charge one of the Ministers to exercise the duties of the Prime Minister until a new Government is formed; shall accept resignations of Ministers and may charge them to exercise their duties until a new Minister is appointed;
- shall, upon the resignation of the Government or after it returns its powers, within 15 days submit to the Seimas the candidature of a new Prime Minister for consideration;
- shall appoint and dismiss Ministers upon the submission by the Prime Minister;
- shall appoint and dismiss, according to the established procedure, State officials provided for by laws;
- shall submit candidatures of the Supreme Court justices to the Seimas and, upon the appointment of all the Supreme Court justices, submit from among them to the Seimas the President of the Supreme Court; appoint judges of the Court of Appeal, and from among them, provided the Seimas gives assent to their candidatures, the President of the Court of Appeal; appoint judges and presidents of regional and local courts, and change their places of work; in cases provided for by law, shall submit that the Seimas dismiss judges; shall, upon the assent of the Seimas, appoint and dismiss the Prosecutor-General of the Republic of Lithuania;
- shall submit to the Seimas the candidatures for three justices of the Constitutional Court, and, upon the appointment of all the justices of the Constitutional Court, submit from among them to the Seimas a candidature for the President of the Constitutional Court;
- shall submit to the Seimas the candidatures for the State Controller and the Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania; may submit that the Seimas express no-confidence in them;
- shall appoint and dismiss, upon the assent of the Seimas, the Commander of the Armed Forces and the Head of the Security Service;
- shall confer the highest military ranks;
- shall adopt, in the event of an armed attack which threatens State sovereignty or territorial integrity, decisions concerning defence against such armed aggression, the imposition of martial law as well as mobilisation, and submit these decisions to the next sitting of the Seimas for approval;
- shall declare a state of emergency according to the procedure and in cases established by law, and present this decision to the next sitting of the Seimas for approval;
- shall make annual reports at the Seimas on the situation in Lithuania and the domestic and foreign policies of the Republic of Lithuania;
- shall convene, in cases provided for in the Constitution, an extraordinary session of the Seimas;
- shall announce regular elections to the Seimas and, in cases provided for in the Second Paragraph of Article 58 of the Constitution, announce pre-term elections to the Seimas;
- shall grant citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania according to the procedure established by law;
- shall confer State awards;
- shall grant pardons to convicted persons;
- shall sign and promulgate laws adopted by the Seimas or refer them back to the Seimas according to the procedure established in Article 71 of the Constitution.
Article 85
The President of the Republic, implementing the powers vested in him, shall issue acts-decrees. To be valid, the decrees of the President of the Republic, specified in Items 3, 15, 17, and 21 of Article 84 of the Constitution, must be signed by the Prime Minister or an appropriate Minister. Responsibility for such a decree shall lie with the Prime Minister or the Minister who signed it.
Article 86
The person of the President of the Republic shall be inviolable: while in office, he may neither be arrested nor held criminally or administratively liable.
The President of the Republic may be removed from office ahead of time only for gross violation of the Constitution or breach of oath, also when it transpires that a crime has been committed. The issue of removal of the President of the Republic from office shall be decided by the Seimas according to the procedure for impeachment proceedings.
Article 87
When, in cases provided for in the Second Paragraph of Article 58 of the Constitution, the President of the Republic announces pre-term elections to the Seimas, the newly-elected Seimas may, by a 3/5 [three-fifths] majority vote of all the Members of the Seimas and within 30 days of the day of the first sitting, announce a pre-term election of the President of the Republic.
The President of the Republic wishing to participate in the election shall be immediately registered as a candidate.
The President of the Republic re-elected in such an election shall be deemed elected for the second term of office, provided that more than three years of his first term of office had expired prior to the election. If less than three years of the first term of office had expired, the President of the Republic shall only be elected for the remainder of the first term of office, which shall not be considered the second term of office.
If a pre-term election of the President of the Republic is announced during his second term of office, the current President of the Republic may only be elected for the remainder of the second term of office.
Article 88
The powers of the President of the Republic shall cease:
- upon the expiration of the period for which he was elected;
- after a pre-term election of the President of the Republic takes place;
- upon resignation from office;
- upon the death of the President of the Republic;
- when the Seimas removes him from office according to the procedure for impeachment proceedings;
- when the Seimas, taking into consideration the conclusion of the Constitutional Court, by a 3/5 [three-fifths] majority vote of all the Members of the Seimas, adopts a resolution stating that the state of health of the President of the Republic does not allow him to hold office.
Article 89
In the event that the President of the Republic dies, resigns or is removed from office according to the procedure for impeachment proceedings, or when the Seimas decides that the state of health of President of the Republic does not allow him to hold office, his office shall temporarily be held by the Speaker of the Seimas. In such a case, the Speaker of the Seimas shall lose his powers at the Seimas, and his office shall temporarily be held, upon the commissioning by the Seimas, by his Deputy. In the enumerated cases, the Seimas must, within 10 days, call an election of the President of the Republic which must be held within two months. If the Seimas cannot convene and announce the election of the President of the Republic, the election shall be announced by the Government.
The Speaker of the Seimas shall substitute for the President of the Republic when the latter is temporarily abroad or has fallen ill and for this reason is temporarily unable to hold office.
While temporarily substituting for the President of the Republic, the Speaker of the Seimas may neither announce pre-term elections of the Seimas nor dismiss or appoint Ministers without the consent of the Seimas. During the said period, the Seimas may not consider the issue of no-confidence in the Speaker of the Seimas.
The powers of the President of the Republic may not be executed in any other cases, or by any other persons or institutions.
Article 90
The President of the Republic shall have a residence. The financing of the President of the Republic and of his residence shall be established by law.
