The leader of the Estonian Conservative People’s Party (EKRE), Martin Helme, has expressed “strong opposition” to the initiative to grant Ukrainians the right to vote in municipal elections, citing the “influence of Russian propaganda” on Ukraine’s Russian-speaking population.
Helme’s comments came amid discussion of a draft law in the Estonian parliament that proposes to grant Ukrainians the right to vote in Estonian elections on an equal footing with citizens of the country, as well as NATO and European Union countries.
The bill also includes the possibility of voting for citizens of countries with which Estonia has concluded bilateral agreements ratified at the parliamentary level.
Estonia currently has no such agreements with Ukraine, which calls into question the implementation of this initiative. Support for this bill may change the existing procedure for restricting voting rights for foreigners with residence permits in the country.
Earlier, the commercial director of the Estonian transport company DB Schenker, Janek Saareoks, said that Estonia was in a state of “logistical deadlock”.
