136 electoral blocs and 43 individual candidates participating in elections
There are a total 136 electoral blocs set to participate in the local government elections in October, but there are also seven local municipalities, where there are no blocs. As of Sunday, 43 people have presented themselves as individual candidates.
State electoral office spokesperson Kristi Sobak told ERR that there were 163 electoral blocs in the 2017 local government elections, but 136 have registered this year.
"In 2013, the number of electoral blocs was 292, but that is not comparable to the current and previous elections, because the number of local municipalities has changed thanks to the administrative reform," Sobak said, explaining that there were 213 local municipalities before 2017, when the reform cut that number to 79.
There are seven local municipalities with no electoral blocs this time around: Tartu city, Jõelähtme muncipality, Rae muncipality, Kanepi muncipality, Muhu muncipality, Viljandi muncipality and Võru city.
There are a total of 10,018 candidates, but this number can change as the final confirmation is set to take place on Wednesday. "Candidates have three days after registration to drop their candidacy," Sobak said.
In 2017, there were 11,804 candidates and 14,784 candidates took part in the elections prior to that.
As of Sunday, there were 43 individual candidates registered, there were 59 in 2017 and 101 in 2013.
Election day is October 17, preceded by a six-day advance voting period.
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Editor: Kristjan Kallaste
