“In the event that the President of the Republic dies, resigns, or is removed from office according to the procedure for impeachment proceedings, or the Seimas decides that the state of health of the President of the Republic does not allow him to hold office, the office of the President of the Republic shall temporarily be held by the Speaker of the Seimas. In such a case, the Speaker of the Seimas shall lose his powers at the Seimas, and his office shall temporarily be held, upon commissioning by the Seimas, by his Deputy. In the enumerated cases, the Seimas must, within 10 days, call an election of the President of the Republic, which must be held within two months. If the Seimas cannot convene and call the election of the President of the Republic, the election shall be called by the Government. The Speaker of the Seimas shall substitute for the President of the Republic when the latter is temporarily abroad or falls ill and, for this reason, is temporarily unable to hold office. While temporarily substituting for the President of the Republic, the Speaker of the Seimas may neither call an early election to the Seimas nor appoint or release Ministers without the consent of the Seimas. During the said period, the Seimas may not consider the issue of no confidence in the Speaker of the Seimas. With the exception of the cases specified in this Article, the powers of the President of the Republic may not be executed by any other persons or institutions.”
If the President dies, resigns, is removed through impeachment or cannot serve for health reasons, the Speaker of the Seimas temporarily holds the office, and the Seimas must call a presidential election within 10 days, to be held within two months. The Speaker also substitutes for a President who is temporarily abroad or ill, but may not call early Seimas elections or change Ministers without the consent of the Seimas.
After the President was removed through impeachment in 2004, the Speaker of the Seimas, Artūras Paulauskas, temporarily held the office of President until the new election.
A common question: who temporarily acts as President (the Speaker of the Seimas, not the Prime Minister). Memorise the deadlines: the election is called within 10 days and held within two months.
Practice with questions about this article