Estonia is likely to change the constitution to restrict the right to vote for citizens of Russia and Belarus
Kyiv • UNN
Estonia's ruling coalition plans to make urgent changes to the constitution regarding voting rights. Citizens of the Russian Federation and Belarus will lose the right to vote in the 2025 local elections.
Estonia's ruling coalition at a coalition council meeting on Monday decided to urgently amend the constitution regarding voting rights. Citizens of the aggressor countries, i.e. Russia and Belarus, will no longer have the right to vote in Estonia if the proposed changes are approved.
Writes UNN with reference to Eesti Rahvusringhääling.
Today, at the Coalition Council, we agreed to recommend our political groups to urgently amend the Constitution so that citizens of aggressor countries are no longer decision-makers in local elections
This is planned to counter Russian influence, the politician added. Accordingly, we are talking about citizens of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation.
The chairman of the Constitutional Committee, Hendrik Terras, said that the working group is meeting to finalize the text of the draft.
If we submit it by 10 a.m. on Thursday, it will be done in time for the next election in 2025
He noted that there is no consensus yet on depriving holders of gray passports of the right to vote.
This aspect was explained by Lauri Laanemets (SDE), chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Estonia.
For those citizens of Russia, Belarus and holders of “gray” passports who still wish to participate in the local elections, Laanemets recommended obtaining Estonian citizenship.
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Estonia is home to about 80,000 people with Russian citizenship and 30,000 people with Belarusian passports. Municipal elections in the country will be held in October 2025.
