The Estonian Social Democratic Party has published a bill aimed at restricting the participation of Russian citizens living in Estonia in Estonian municipal elections, the ERR TV and radio company reported citing the document.
The Estonian Constitution provides for the participation in municipal elections of all local residents over the age of 16, including citizens of other EU countries, third countries, and stateless persons.
“The Social Democratic Party has published a bill aimed at restricting the participation in municipal elections of Russian citizens permanently residing in Estonia. The bill envisages adding a new article to the law on elections to local government assemblies regulating the participation in elections of foreigners permanently residing in Estonia,” the ERR publication said.
The bill states that aliens residing in Estonia who wish to participate in the elections must submit a request to be added to the voter list no later than 30 days before the elections. At the same time, according to ERR, notification will be sent to aliens no later than 70 days before the election.
The material specifies that in the application, the alien must declare condemnation of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and recognise Estonia’s sovereignty. The new article also provides for the possibility of removing a voter from the list upon a justified request by a security institution or the intelligence centre of the Estonian Defence Forces.
