ABSTRACT
This chapter presents one segment of a much larger research project examining ‘the boundaries of suffrage’, and engaging with the liberal principle of alien suffrage in the particular context of the EU’s move—since the Treaty of Maastricht—to give limited electoral rights to EU citizens, when they are resident in a Member State other than the one of which they are a national. The early history and the ultimate emergence of the Lithuanian state illustrates its historical and ethnic ties with Poland, and latterly, Russia. A possible indicator of the success of the zero-option approach to citizenship is the relative inclusion of the larger national minorities in political scene. Lithuania has adopted the relevant legislation according the right of EU citizens to vote and stand as candidates in European elections on condition of permanent residence in Lithuania. Although initially a liberal stance was taken towards the acquisition of Lithuanian citizenship at the moment of independence, subsequent laws have been less liberal.
