Plenary Sittings of the Seimas
Plenary sittings of the Seimas shall be presided over by the Speaker of the Seimas or his Deputy. As a rule, four sittings a week - two on Tuesday and two on Thursday - shall be held during the Seimas session, whereas every three weeks plenary sittings of the Seimas shall be adjourned for a week. On other days of the week and in the week when no plenary sittings are held, sittings of the Board of the Seimas, the Assembly of Elders, parliamentary groups, committees and commissions as well as meetings of members of the Seimas with electors or representatives of local governments shall be held. The preliminary schedule of plenary sittings of a Seimas session shall be approved by the Board of the Seimas.
Agenda of Evening Sittings
The last twenty minutes of every day's evening sitting shall be assigned for the statements of the members of the Seimas on urgent State problems. The State Radio shall transmit this part of the sitting.
Seimas members desiring to speak shall prior to the morning sitting submit to Secretariat of the Seimas Sittings a written request. The Secretariat of the Seimas Sittings shall present the received requests to the Speaker of the sitting.
No discussion shall be held on the opinions expressed in statements by Seimas members. The Seimas may without discussion approve the Seimas member’s proposal to charge an appropriate committee or commission of the Seimas to investigate the issue. The Seimas committee or commission must start investigating this issue not later than within a week.
The last half hour of the Tuesday evening sitting is assigned to the Government, members of the Government, the Seimas officers, heads of State institutions appointed by the Seimas, except judges of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, and also to replies by heads of other State Institutions to the Seimas members questions, while the Thursday segment of the evening programme is usually allotted to the Government Hour.
The agendas of every third Thursday evening sitting shall be drawn up by the parliamentary groups of the opposition. A week before the opening of such sitting the Board of the Seimas, taking into consideration the principle of proportional representation of the parliamentary groups of the opposition, shall appoint a parliamentary group or a coalition of parliamentary groups prior to the beginning of the regular Seimas session who shall be responsible for the agenda of such sittings. In such an event, the agenda shall not be approved at the Seimas sitting, however, must be submitted along with the draft agenda for the week.
Time of the Seimas Sittings and Registration
The morning sitting of the Seimas shall as a rule be held from 10:00 a.m. and the afternoon sitting - from 3: 00 p.m.
Seimas members shall be registered at the beginning of every sitting and before the voting planned in advance. Based upon a decision of the Speaker of the Seimas sitting or at the request of a political group, which is supported by at least a half of Seimas members participating in the sitting, the Seimas sitting may be extended for not more than one hour, provided that the Seimas has failed to consider all issues on the approved agenda.
Extraordinary Seimas Sittings
An extraordinary sitting must be held provided that it is requested in writing by the President of the Republic, one-third of Seimas members or the Board of the Seimas. Only the issues submitted by the persons on whose initiative the meeting is held shall be considered at such sittings.
The Board of the Seimas shall not less than 6 hours before the opening of that sitting inform Seimas members of the extraordinary sitting and issues proposed for discussion either in the course of an ordinary meeting or through the mass media.
Open and Closed Sittings of the Seimas
As a rule, the sittings of the Seimas shall be open.
On the decision of the Seimas as well as at the request of the Speaker of the Seimas, the President of the Republic or the Prime Minister, a closed sitting may be held by way of exception which, in addition to Seimas members, may be attended only by persons specially invited to the sitting and, as necessary, by the personnel of the Secretariat of the Seimas Sittings.
The Board of the Seimas, the Government, parliamentary groups and committees shall have the right to propose to hold a closed sitting; a justification of the proposal shall be requisite.
Guests and Observers of the Seimas Sittings
The Speaker of the Seimas or the Board of the Seimas may invite the most prominent guests of the Republic of Lithuania: heads of foreign states, members of governments, heads of parliamentary delegations and international organisations and Speakers of Lithuanian emigrant organisations to speak at the sittings. Other distinguished guests may be invited as observers of the sittings of a session.
The President of the Republic, members of the Government, the judges of the Constitutional Court, the Speaker of the Supreme Court and heads of State institutions formed by the Seimas may attend the sittings without a special invitation and state their opinion during discussions where issues connected with their work are considered. An entry regarding their participation shall be made in the minutes of a sitting.
Open sittings of the Seimas shall be public. They may be attended by all persons having permits to enter the Seimas Building. The Board of the Seimas shall establish the procedure of observation of sittings in the plenary sittings hall.
Meeting of Seimas Members
The Seimas may convene a meeting of all Seimas members for preliminary discussion of issues; the rules of the Statute of the Seimas shall not be valid at such meetings. No decisions shall be adopted by the Seimas at such meetings. Seimas members shall elect the Speaker of the meeting and may establish provisional rules of procedure of the meeting.
Reports, Speeches and Answers to Questions
All reports shall be read at the Seimas sittings from the dais. In the cases set forth in Article 106 of the Statute of the Seimas, members of the Seimas may speak from their seats or into the microphones installed in the chamber. Speaking during sittings shall be allowed only on the permission of the presiding officer.
As a rule, one principal report and one additional report shall be made on every issue under consideration. The duration of a report shall be fixed by the presiding officer in co-ordination with the person delivering the report. Ordinarily, reports should not exceed thirty minutes. Additional reports shall be allotted a duration of up to fifteen minutes; final words and commentary on behalf of the Government or a committee shall be granted up to ten minutes; speaking on behalf on a parliamentary group - up to seven minutes, and speeches said on behalf of the speaker himself shall be given up to five minutes. If, prior to the start of a Seimas discussion a decision shall be adopted to limit the duration of discussion, the time allotted to parliamentary groups shall be divided in proportion to the size of the parliamentary groups and the parliamentary group Elders shall inform the presiding officer of the sitting, which member of the parliamentary group shall speak and for how long.
During the presentation of the draft, a report shall be allotted ten minutes, and answers to questions of Seimas members, up to ten minutes. An answer to a single question may not exceed three minutes, whereas the question itself may not take longer than one minute.
Only one question shall be permitted at a time. A person shall be allowed to ask a second question only when it is his turn again to ask a question.
On the decision of the Seimas, question and answer sessions may be terminated before the fixed time, provided that at least one other member of the Seimas supports such a proposal.
Procedure of Organising Discussions
Registration of persons wishing to take the floor shall begin an hour before
the first sitting of the day the issue is slated for discussion and shall close by the commencement of discussion of the issue. Upon completion of registration, the officer presiding over the sitting must announce the list of persons participating in the discussion. Registration for speaking shall be carried out by submitting applications to the Secretariat of the Seimas Sittings.
Speakers shall be granted the floor during discussions in the order in which they have registered to speak. The presiding officer may change the order for the reason of ensuring proportional representation of parliamentary groups and committees, and for presenting arguments "for" and "against". A speaker may waive his or her right to take the floor. If the speaker leaves the chamber without giving prior notice to the presiding officer and is not present when called upon to speak, he or she shall be deemed to have waived his or her right to take the floor. Seimas members may not transfer to one another the speaking time allotted to them.
Speeches Regarding Procedure and Other Issues
During debates, Seimas members shall have the right to take the floor not more than once for every item on the agenda. Questions, remarks, and speeches concerning the motives or procedure of voting, prejudicial issues or issues related to the termination of debate, and proposals to reject or postpone the issue under consideration shall constitute an exception. In said cases no advance registration shall be required. However, every member of the Seimas shall have the right to make an inquiry, speech, or remark only once on each given issue on the agenda, and concerning the motives of voting - once before every voting.
Speaking on issues concerning procedure, termination of debate, or postponement or rejection of an issue shall have precedence over the issue under consideration. In said cases, members of the Seimas shall be granted the floor for no longer than two minutes after the speaker has finished a speech. In the cases specified in the Statute of the Seimas, a vote may be taken after such speeches. If the speaker speaks on an issue other than the one for which he or she was granted the floor, the presiding officer may revoke his or her right to speak.
Debates on Voting Motives
One may comment on voting motives after the presiding officer at the sitting announces what the vote will be taken on, and inquires, whether there are any persons present who wish to debate voting motives.
When a vote is taken regarding an entire issue or adopting of a draft law, not more than four Seimas members each, may take the floor both “in favour” and “against” the voting motives. The presiding officer at the sitting shall extend priority to parliamentary group Elders and those speaking on behalf of parliamentary groups. In other instances, only one Seimas member may take the floor “in favour” and “against” voting motives.
Termination and Limitation of Debates
Debates shall be terminated on the decision of the Seimas, with the exception of the cases where the Statute of the Seimas provides for a different procedure for termination of a debate. Proposals to terminate a debate may be submitted after at least two speakers have been given the floor and may be put to a vote without holding a discussion thereon, provided that at least one other member of the Seimas supports the proposal. Prior to that, the presiding officer must announce how many persons are registered to speak and how many have already spoken.
Upon resolving to terminate a debate, the presiding officer must grant the floor, according to order, to one more member of the Seimas as well as to everyone who still has the right to be granted the floor. In addition, the speaker may be granted the floor for concluding remarks.
The President of the Republic, the Speaker of the Seimas, the Prime Minister, and the Seimas opposition leader shall have the right to take the floor one time out of turn, in a discussion. Should members of the Government, as well as one representative of a parliamentary group or a committee notify the Secretariat of the Seimas Sittings of their wish to be granted the floor prior to termination of a discussion, they shall retain the right to take the floor even if it is resolved to terminate the debate.
The Seimas may in advance limit the general duration of debates on each issue or the number of speakers. In such cases, proposals to terminate a debate shall not be accepted. Should the opposition parliamentary group object to debate termination and should its proposal be supported by one-third of Seimas members participating at the sitting, the debate will be continued.
Recess in Discussion of Issue and Postponement of Debate
In discussing each issue, the Seimas shall take an unscheduled recess of no less than half an hour and no more than an hour, prior to the commencement of voting or the discussion of the issue may be postponed to the next sitting if the presiding officer, the principal committee, or a parliamentary group so requests and the request is supported by at least one-third of Seimas members present at the sitting, or the request of the opposition parliamentary group and the request is supported by at least one-fifth of Seimas members present.
In discussing an issue, such recesses and debate postponements may only be done twice. Only one unscheduled recess may be taken in the same sitting. If the Statute of the Seimas has been expressly violated during discussion of an issue, the committee which prepared the draft of the law or other legal act, a parliamentary group, or the Commission on Ethics and Procedure shall have the right to request that the discussion of the issue be postponed, but for no longer than one week.
Words of a Seimas Member on a Personal Issue
If the conduct or words of a Seimas Member are presented in a distorted manner by other speakers, he or she shall have the right to request that the presiding officer grant him or her the floor to speak on a personal issue for up to two minutes. The Seimas member shall be granted the floor to speak on personal issues at the end of the debate.
Voting Methods and Procedure
Ordinary, open ballot voting is conducted on issues debated in the Seimas sittings, except in instances stipulated by the Statute of the Seimas. Laws of the Republic of Lithuania and resolutions of the Seimas, shall be adopted through voting by means of the electronic vote calculation system. Voting also takes place on individual provisions of an issue under consideration, individual articles or assertions of law, protocol decisions and session work programme, sitting agenda and other issues.
Data regarding the vote of each Seimas member is public. Upon decision by the presiding officer of the sitting, these issues may be voted upon by a show of hands. Seimas members shall vote personally. The right to vote may not be transferred to other persons.
The presiding officer of the sitting shall announce the commencement of voting procedure, and inform Seimas members how many votes are needed to adopt the decision. There should not be any walking about while the vote is being taken. No issues shall be debated prior to conclusion of the voting procedure. The floor is given only for voting motive and mode of voting, except the period when roll call vote or ballot results are being tallied.
Decision Taking
Laws of the Republic of Lithuania, Seimas Resolutions and other Seimas decisions are adopted by a simple majority of Seimas members present at the sitting, with the exception of special instances stipulated by the Constitution and the Statute of the Seimas.
Decisions on protocol Seimas decisions, individual provisions of the issue being debated, individual articles of law or assertions, questions on the sittings' agenda procedure, adopted by majority vote, may also be adopted without a vote (general consent).
Roll Call Voting
Roll call voting shall be permitted in adopting Laws of the Republic of Lithuania, Seimas resolutions or other acts, provided that one of the parliamentary groups shall request this and support it by at least one-third of Seimas members present at the sitting. Such a request may be set forth by the representative of a parliamentary group only upon conclusion of a debate on an issue and prior to voting on the entire draft.
In such a case, ballot papers for roll call voting shall be distributed to Seimas members prior to the commencement of voting; upon receipt of said ballot papers, Seimas members shall sign the record of issued ballot papers.
The presiding officer shall announce the time of commencement and completion of roll call voting. Upon announcement of voting commencement, every Seimas member shall fill in the ballot paper, sign it, and hand it over to the tellers' group.
The ballot papers shall be no longer issued or accepted after the expiry of the time set for voting. Upon tallying the votes, the presiding officer shall announce the vote of every Seimas member.
Secret Balloting
Issues concerning the election of the Speaker of the Seimas, Deputy Speakers, Chancellor of the Seimas, decision on non-confidence in the Government, the Prime Minister or a minister, non-confidence in any officer of the Seimas or dismissal of the head of a state institution appointed by the Seimas, as well as when a vote shall be taken on formulations of the charge during the impeachment proceedings shall be voted on only by secret ballot. An issue concerning appointment of the Constitutional Court judges shall also be voted upon by secret ballot.
Secret balloting shall be done during a recess of sitting. Ballot papers shall be stamped and distributed by the tellers' group. Upon receiving their ballot papers, Seimas members shall sign the record of issued ballot papers. There must be a secret voting booth and ballot box in the voting place. The ballot box must be put in such a way that, upon approaching it, the members casting their votes would have to cross the secret voting booth.
Open Ballot Voting
Voting shall be done by open ballots when it is necessary to elect several candidates to some posts from a larger number of candidates and when it has not been resolved to vote by secret ballot. In open voting, the procedure for voting and establishing the results shall be the same as in voting by secret ballot except that secret ballot voting booths shall not be used and ballot papers shall be filled out in the chamber. It is not necessary to sign the ballot papers.
