Tallinn official local elections turnout reported at 54.5 percent

Local election
Local election "pop-up" polling station in Tallinn on October 11, 2021. Source: Priit Mürk/ERR

Voting in the capital at last Sunday's local elections went smoothly, with no major obstacles or incidents, the electoral committee reports, while the official turnout of 54.5 percent of eligible voters in Estonia's largest population center was approximately the same as the figure for the whole country.

Priit Lello, Chair of Tallinn Electoral Committee and City Secretary said: "Voting in the open polling stations at shopping malls was well attended. The voting tents in Mustamäe, Lasnamäe and Põhja-Tallinn districts were visited very actively."

"Furthermore, the e-vote figure reached a record level. This may have been influenced by people wishing to avoid close contact during the coronavirus pandemic, but also by confidence in the e-voting system," Lello continued, according to a Tallinn city government press release.

88,127 e-votes were cast between Monday, October 11 and Saturday, October 16, which, along with 103,488 paper votes on polling day, Sunday, October 17, totaled 191,615 people.

The total electorate in Tallinn numbered 353,360 [sic], the largest of any municipality – Tallinn is further sub-divided into eight districts – the city government says.

Close to a thousand volunteers were involved in organization during election week, primarily staffing the polling stations across the capital (which were also open during the advance voting period October 11-16 - ed.).

"I extend my gratitude to all the voters and to the hardworking people who helped to make the elections run smoothly," Lello continued.

"Turnout last week was higher than in the council elections held in 2017: the right to vote was used by 54.5 percent [sic] of those eligible. This is a good result in the current conditions of the coronavirus outbreak," he added.

Paper ballots were counted at the polling station they were cast in, while paper votes cast away from a voter's place of residence were concurrently counted by the Tallinn Electoral Committee, in the Kalev Sports Hall, while a recount was carried out of all paper votes on Monday, again at the Kalev Sports Hall and ahead of the official announcement.

The State Electoral Committee (VPK) oversaw e-vote counting in Tallinn, as it did nationwide.

More detailed information is here.

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Editor: Andrew Whyte

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