The government is looking for ways to bar Russian and Belarusian citizens ordinarily resident in Estonia from voting at the next local elections in October 2025.

Municipal elections in Estonia have the widest franchise of the three types of direct elections, since all permanent residents are entitled to vote – compared with citizens-only at Riigikogu elections, and citizens of the EU27 resident in Estonia in the case of European elections.

Tuesday's "Impulss" episode discussed whether a passport alone determines allegiance, the extent of the security threat posed by the participation of Russian citizens in elections in Estonia, and what the legal implications of revoking voting rights would be.

Approximately 69,000 people resident in Estonia hold a Russian or Belarusian passport.

Andres Puustusmaa, a film lecturer, director and actor, said on the show that during a time of war, as now, an individual living in Estonia who holds a Russian passport should not participate in local elections. If that person is loyal to the Estonian state, they will be able to understand why their voting rights are suspended, he argued.

Pärtel-Peeter Pere, head of the Reform Party in Tallinn, meanwhile said having citizens of a hostile country in Estonia is a security risk already. Pere added that stripping voting rights should not be seen as a punishment or as a form of discrimination, and does not significantly affect the quality of life of the individuals in question.

"Those who want to live here peaceably can do so without voting in municipal elections," Pere said.

As to why it is only now that the voting rights of Russian citizens resident in Estonia may be removed, Pere said: "The reason why this has not been done for the past 30 years was the hope that integration would succeed."

Former interior minister and former Mayor of Narva Katri Raik (SDE), also appearing on "Impulss," said that citizenship does not say much one way or another about a person's allegiance. She said that there are many Russian citizens in Ida-Viru County, many of whose towns are majority Russian-speaking, who contribute to society at a local level, mainly as a result of their voting rights.

"Russian citizens are not a glutinous mass," Raik said, arguing that Estonians should not fear their Russian counterparts yet adding that she does not believe people will riot in the streets after losing the right to vote, either.

"We want the number of Russian citizens living here to fall, but unfortunately, it has stayed very stable," Raik said, meaning she would encourage ethnically Russian and Russian-speaking residents of Estonia to take citizenship.

"We are working on ways to encourage Russian citizens to take Estonian citizenship," she added, listing three major steps already taken towards this goal – the removal of Soviet monuments, the changing of some Soviet-era street names, and the transition to education in Estonian only.

Russian, and indeed all other, citizens have to surrender their original citizenship when taking Estonian citizenship, which beyond that and the actual paperwork mainly entails taking a comparatively easy language exam, and a test on the Constitution.

ERR's Anton Aleksejev pointed out that Estonia also is home to a number of Russian dissidents and lower-profile dissenters who oppose Putin's regime.

For them, "emotionally speaking it is hard to go to the ballot box alongside someone who just voted for Putin," Aleksejev said.

Aleksejev also noted that he had resided in Russia for 30 years on a permanent residence permit, yet had never been permitted to vote in local elections there.

"Why, then, should they get this right here?" Aleksejev inquired.

At the same time, stripping voting rights will hit different parties to differing extents; for instance, the Center Party has traditionally drawn strong support from among Russian-speaking voters, be they Estonian citizens, Russian or Belarusian citizens, "Gray passport" holders (ie. of no citizenship) or citizens of other states.

Also taking part in Tuesday's "Impulss" was lawyer Jüri Raidla, who said that revoking or temporarily suspending the voting rights of Russian and Belarusian citizens in local elections would be in contravention of the Constitution.

"We should not tamper with the Constitution under any circumstances," he said, before going on to discuss at length the legal nuances associated with the revocation or suspension of voting rights.

Raidla also said that even the temporary suspension of voting rights, which it necessarily must be, legally is difficult to implement. "Incorporating the temporary revocation of rights into the Constitution is not feasible," in fact, Raidla said.

Ultimately only the security organs can assess security risks, he added.

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