Four Candidates Detained, Suspected of Vote Buying
Police yesterday detained four city council candidates in the upcoming local government elections on suspicion of vote buying.
Two of the suspects were detained in the city of Paldiski and two in Kiviõli. Police are also investigating a tip received yesterday which alleges that another incident took place in Narva-Jõesuu, the prosecutors' spokeswoman, Katrin Lunt, told uudised.err.ee.
"Since we are still dealing with suspicions at the moment, the chief prosecutor does not consider it possible to say which party or election coalition or independent candidate allegedly gained from buying votes," said Chief State Prosecutor Heili Sepp.
"In the period before the elections, the police and prosecutor are following with events at heightened alert to confirm that there are no violations of electoral freedoms," Sepp said.
There are over 15,000 candidates running in 215 local elections taking place across the nation on Sunday.