Constitution of Lithuania

The Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania was adopted by referendum on 25 October 1992, approved by 75 percent of voters with 57 percent of eligible voters participating, replacing the Provisional Basic Law that had governed since independence. It establishes a unitary semi-presidential republic with a unicameral Seimas of 141 members, a directly elected president serving five year terms, and an independent judiciary including a Constitutional Court, superseding the interwar constitutions of 1922, 1928 and 1938 and the Soviet-era documents that followed them. It enshrines fundamental rights and social protections including free medical care, old age pensions and unemployment compensation, explicitly prohibits membership in post-Soviet alliances, and affirms Lithuania's Western, European Union orientation.