1. The description of the procedure (hereinafter referred to as “this Description”) shall regulate the subjects, participants, methods, organisation, estimation and use of the results of the local population poll (hereinafter referred to as “this Poll”), and the subjects initiating, organizing and carrying out a local population poll, their rights and duties in the establishment or abolition of the administrative territorial units of the Republic of Lithuania as well as in the establishment or change of their boundaries and central seats.

2. A poll shall be carried out in areas where there are plans to establish or abolish administrative territorial units, to establish or change their boundaries or central seats. The objectives of the poll must be consistent with the Constitution, the legislation of the Republic of Lithuania, the resolutions of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and other legal acts.

3. The aim of the poll shall be to find out the opinion of the local population on:

4. Based on the territorial principle, the respondents may be:

5. Polled area residents qualified to elect the council of their municipality shall have a right to participate in the opinion poll.

6. Participation in the opinion poll is voluntary and based on the universal and equal right of direct and individual expression of one’s opinion.

7. The opinion poll shall be announced and coordinated by the Ministry of the Interior (hereinafter referred to as the “Poll Coordinator”). The poll shall be carried out by the Commission of the Local Population Poll (hereinafter referred to as the “Poll Commission”).

8. The right to propose a poll shall belong to:

9. The Poll Coordinator shall examine the proposals for the poll within 15 days of their receipt and shall take a decision on carrying out a poll.

The decision on carrying out a poll shall identify the composition of the Poll Commission, its Chairman and Deputy Chairmen, the date, location and method of the poll. The decision shall be executed in the form of an Order issued by the Minister of the Interior.

Where the initiative group fails to submit all the documents referred to in paragraph 8.5 hereof, a decision shall be taken within 15 days of the receipt of the proposals not to hold a poll and the initiative group shall be notified of the decision.

10. The Poll Commission shall be composed of local residents. Where more than 5000 local residents have a right to participate in the poll, by order of the Minister of the Interior, the Central Poll Commission may be established from the members of the Poll Commission, chaired by the Chairman of the Poll Commission, and subdivisions of the Poll Commission, chaired by Deputy Chairmen, may be formed. The Poll Commission shall include representatives delegated from the Administration of the County Governor and the Municipal Administration(s). Each subdivision of the Poll Commission may include one representative from the initiative group.

11. Having taken the decision on carrying out a poll, the Poll Coordinator shall, 20 days before the beginning of the poll at the latest, inform the Mayor of the Municipality and the Director of the Municipal Administration on the objectives, location, time and pollsters of the poll, while the Director of the Administration shall publish this information in the local press, on the official website and notice boards (provided they are officially installed in the polled area) 10 days before the beginning of the poll at the latest. A repeated announcement shall be placed in the local press 5 days before the beginning of the poll at the latest. Through the Director of the Municipal Administration, the Poll Coordinator shall provide the Poll Commission with the lists of poll respondents and the models for their completion.

12. The poll methods of the opinion of the residents of the polled area shall be the following:

13. Where the residents express their opinion directly, it is necessary for the person coming to the polling station to provide his/her ID to the member of the Poll Commission and a document to prove his place of residence. When satisfied that the person is a resident of the polled area, the member of the Poll Commission shall enter his/her name in the signature sheet of the list of poll respondents and ask him/her to sign under the reply ‘yes’ or ‘no’ according to the person’s choice.

14. The question requiring the residents to answer either ‘yes’ or ‘no’ should be formulated clearly so as not to give rise to any doubts as to its content. The signature sheets of the list of poll respondents must be numbered and stamped.

Where polls are conducted for several proposed decisions, opinion on each of the decisions shall be expressed on separate signature sheets of the list of poll respondents.

15. The requirements for the equipment of the polling premises shall be established by the Poll Coordinator.

16. At the request of the Poll Coordinator, the premises for the poll shall be provided by the Director of the Municipal Administration, while its technical equipment and the services to the Poll Commission shall be the responsibility of the Municipal Administration.

17. The draft decision(s) that is the subject of the local opinion poll and this Description must be displayed in the polling premises.

18. The polling premises shall be opened on the polling day only when 3/5 of the members of the Poll Commission or 3/5 of the members of the subdivision of the Poll Commission are present.

19. A respondent shall sign under the answer of his choice in the signature sheet of the list of poll respondents himself/herself. A respondent unable to affix his/her signature due to a physical disability may instruct another person (except for a member of the Poll Commission or an observer) to sign on his or her behalf.

20. Political parties, associations and the initiative group shall have a right to appoint observers of the poll. Before the beginning of the poll, an observer shall produce to the Chairman or the Deputy Chairman of the Poll Commission his/her mandate issued by a political party, association or the initiative group and his/her ID. The Chairman or the Deputy Chairman of the Poll Commission shall enter the observer’s first and last name, the political party, association or initiative group that has appointed the observer and the date of the entry in the list of observers, which he asks the observer to sign.

An observer may not be refused entry into the list of observers if he/she produces all the documents required in the first subparagraph of this paragraph.

An observer of the poll shall have a right to request that the Chairman, Deputy Chairmen and members of the Poll Commission as well as any person present in the polling premises should adhere to the provisions of the legislation of the Republic of Lithuania, this Description and other legal acts. The members of the Poll Commission shall see to it that the observer should have all the appropriate conditions in the polling premises to be able to observe the compliance with the legislation of the Republic of Lithuania, this Description and the provisions of other legal acts. An observer, himself/herself in violation of the legislation of the Republic of Lithuania, this Description or the provisions of other legal acts, may be struck out off the list of observers on the decision of the Poll Commission or a subdivision of the Poll Commission. The decision of the Poll Commission or a subdivision of the Poll Commission shall be taken by a majority of more than a half of the votes of the members of the Poll Commission or a subdivision of the Poll Commission. A report shall be drawn up on the violation made.

21. After the poll room is closed down, all the unused signature sheets of the list of poll respondents shall be collected in the presence of at least 3/5 of the members of the Poll Commission or a subdivision of the Poll Commission. These sheets shall be counted in the presence of the observers (if any), and the number of the votes shall be indicated in the vote count report drawn up in the form approved by the Poll Coordinator. Then, the Commission shall count the used signature sheets of the list of poll respondents and enter their number in the vote count report.

The Poll Commission shall count the number of the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers in the signature sheets of the list of poll respondents and shall enter these data in the vote count report.

The results of the poll shall be summed up by residential areas, local districts and municipalities.

Where the poll has been conducted by subdivisions of the Poll Commission, the results of the poll shall be brought to the central Poll Commission at the end of the poll period for summing up, after which the final vote count report shall be drawn up.

The vote count report shall be signed by the members of the Poll Commission who took part in the poll. Then the vote count report shall be signed by the observers (if any). The comments of the observers and the differing opinions of the members of the Poll Commission shall be adduced to the report and shall constitute its integral part.

22. All the signature sheets (both used and unused) of the list of poll respondents and the vote count report or the minutes of the assembly shall be presented to the Poll Coordinator on the next day after the poll.

23. A poll shall be considered valid if at least 25 per cent of the population of the polled area qualified to participate in the poll express their opinion on the issue submitted to the poll.

24. Applications and complaints about the decisions of the Poll Commission and the vote count reports as well as other applications and complaints about the violations of the provisions of this Description shall be examined by the Poll Coordinator.

Due to grave violations (e. g., interference with the expression of the residents’ opinion, attempts to influence the residents’ opinion, failure to comply with the poll procedures laid down herein, etc.) the Minister of the Interior may declare the results of the poll invalid. The Order of the Minister of the Interior shall indicate the violations that caused the poll results to be declared invalid.

25. After examining the poll documents, applications and complaints and having found that the poll proceeded in accordance with the provisions hereof, the Poll Coordinator, within 15 days, shall adopt a decision on the approval of the poll results, which shall be executed in the form of an order issued by the Minister of the Interior, and shall notify the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and the relevant municipality(ies) of the results of the poll. The municipality(ies) shall, within 5 working days of the receipt of the poll results, publish them in the local press, the official website and notice boards (if they are available in the polled area).

26. Where the poll did not take place through the fault of the pollsters, a repeated poll shall be held within 3 months at the latest of the date originally set for the poll, or within 3 months of the poll that did take place but its results were declared invalid due to grave violations. The decision shall be executed by an order issued by the Minister of the Interior, which will set the date for the new poll.

27. The costs for the preparation and carrying out of the poll shall be covered by: