Members of the Riigikogu should quickly decide whether they will leave intact the right of Russian and Belarusian citizens to elect, in addition to their dictators, delegates to local government councils in Estonia.

Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said in an interview to Põhjarannik that the right to vote of those countries' citizens could be suspended for the duration of the Ukraine war. "People who can vote for Putin and be mobilized by Russia currently have a say in Estonian local politics. It does not seem right," the premier said, admitting that one of the Reform Party's coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SDE), is reluctant to make the decision, while Kallas does not want to tear down the coalition over this matter.

The Reform Party and Eesti 200 can in this matter also count on the votes of the [opposition] Isamaa and EKRE parties, both of which have been seeking the change for a long time. The four parties should have the 81 votes necessary for a constitutional amendment between them.

Minister of the Interior Lauri Läänemets (SDE) said during Riigikogu Question Time that voting rights should not be altered in a hurry and that further debates on this topic are necessary.

In truth, relevant debates have been raging for at least two years. Ever since Russia, backed by Belarus, launched an extensive war of conquest in Ukraine. The question, regarding parliamentary parties in Estonia, is whether there is a will to make a decision in this situation or not. If more than four-fifths of MPs have that will, the decision should just be made. It should outweigh considerations of its effect on the health of the ruling coalition. Long-term indecisiveness in this matter is making the powers that be look uncertain.

One reason why the Social Democrats are hesitant when it comes to suspending the voting right of citizens of Russia and Belarus in Estonia is that they include people who support Estonia, while there are Estonian citizens who support the Kremlin's ideology. The latter was confirmed in last year's Riigikogu elections where Aivo Peterson, currently on trial for treason, and Mihhail Stalnuhhin, who has referred to the Estonian government as fascists, were the most popular candidates in Ida-Viru County.

It is true, also as pointed out by the latest Estonian integration monitoring, that there is no uniform Russian community in Estonia in terms of sharing the same values and interests. Just as among Estonians, there are people with very different worldviews among residents of other nationalities. It is the same for Estonian citizens, Russian citizens and stateless persons. However, it is also a fact that Russian citizens include a lot of people who contrast with the Estonian society.

What matters is their relative number in specific local governments and to what extent they will affect the composition and policies of local councils to be elected next fall.

The integration monitoring points out that there are a little over 80,000 Russian citizens living in Estonia and only half of them are interested in Estonian citizenship. Besides, those interested have had decades in which to prepare. But they have, either for ideological or self-serving reasons, preferred Russia over Estonia. It has been their choice. Giving citizens of third countries the right to vote is not the norm but rather a privilege that some European countries offer and others don't.

The relative importance of Russian citizens is considerable in larger Ida-Viru County cities. It is close to 40 percent in Sillamäe and 30 percent in Narva and Kohtla-Järve. If they are allowed to keep their right to vote, the candidates are bound to consider their mentality and interests.

It is not necessary to form a new party to take part in local elections. Putting together an election coalition, manning it with Estonian citizens who share Aivo Peterson's views and getting enough votes by using social media to pray on the senses of the sensitive is hardly rocket science, at least in theory.

It could result in local councils that don't exactly complement national security and might negate work done in previous years to integrate Ida-Viru cities more closely with the rest of Estonia. This might not happen, but the risk is there, and it is sensible to try and manage it by excluding citizens of aggressor states from the electorate.

It would be mistaken to believe that local authorities are only in charge of fixing potholes and other utilities. Local governments shape the educational and cultural landscape, handle land and planning matters all of which ties into security either directly or indirectly.

Let us imagine it if Russian citizens would also have been able to vote in the previous Riigikogu elections. Both Stalnuhhin and Peterson would be MPs today, next to a group of followers. None of the current parliamentary parties would probably have gotten a mandate from Ida-Viru County. Maybe only the Center Party, while even that would only be possible by borrowing Jana Toom from the European Parliament.

Should the Riigikogu fail to strip citizens of aggressor states of their right to vote in local elections, there is a real possibility of pro-Estonian local politicians becoming the clear minority in Ida-Viru County cities. To avoid that, parliamentary parties should get a move on and start seriously preparing for local elections in Ida-Viru County. It is not enough to hang posters on lamp posts and hand out candy wrapped in the party's colors two months before elections.

Parties need to get more local people to run and make efforts to explain their policies. Several parliamentary parties virtually gave up in Ida-Viru County last time around as they failed to even register lists of candidates or could only come up with a few names. With an attitude like that, the result might be just as shocking as what we saw come out of Ida-Viru County at the previous Riigikogu elections.

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