Sale of land to non-Lithuanians : Referendum fails

Only 15% of voters turned out for the 29 June referendum in this Baltic country. The vast majority voted in favour of the prohibition on selling farmland to non-Lithuanians (scoring 70.8%), but the very low participation rate invalidates the result of the consultation. A binding result would have required the participation of at least 50% of Lithuanian voters. Calls by the Social Democrat party of Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius and by the Conservative opposition for rejection of the prohibition were…