Central Election Commission turns down the bill on Latvian citizenship for all non-citizens

  • 2012-11-01

RIGA - The Central Election Commission decided today that the second round of signature collection for staging a referendum on automatic citizenship for all non-citizens of Latvia will not be organized, because the draft bill amending the naturalization process regulations is not fully elaborated.

Six commission members voted against the bill, while two members voted for continuing the referendum initiation procedure.

As reported, the bill submitted by the For Equal Rights movement stipulates that all non-citizens of Latvia who do not apply for keeping their status of a non-citizen by November 30, 2013 be automatically granted Latvian citizenship on January 1, 2014.