The next European Parliament will have 720 members (up from the current 705), with Estonia electing seven representatives. The allocation of parliamentary seats among member states is based on their population, but the distribution key grants relatively greater representation to smaller countries and relatively fewer mandates to member states with a larger population.

All citizens of the respective member state and other European Union member state citizens living there have the right to vote from the age of 18.

If an Estonian citizen has a residential address in Estonia, prior registration for the elections is not necessary, as the authorities automatically handle it. Likewise, there is no need for separate registration to vote if a person permanently lives abroad and has registered this in the population register.

An EU citizen in Estonia can choose to vote in Estonia, but if they have not voted in the European Parliament elections in Estonia before, they must submit a request to the population register by May 10 to be included in the electoral register.

The election period in Estonia begins on Monday, June 3, and ends on Sunday, June 9. The European Parliament elections in Estonia are held in the usual manner with paper ballots on election day, but also electronically and through advance voting, though these have different schedules.

The option for electronic voting (e-voting) opens on June 3 at 9 a.m. and continues around the clock until 8 p.m. the evening of Saturday, June 8.

From Monday, June 3, to Thursday, June 6, advance voting takes place from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. in at least one designated polling station in every municipality and city.

Similarly, from June 3 to June 6, between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m., voting also occurs in detention facilities, hospitals and nursing homes.

Advance voting in all polling stations is available on Friday and Saturday (June 7-8) from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. and on the same days, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. voting at home (at the voter's location) is also conducted.

On Election Day, June 9, all polling stations are open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and voting at home or the voter's location continues, where one can request the ballot box to be brought to them.

Electronic voting is not available on June 9.

E-voting only possible using a computer

To cast an e-vote, one must download the voter application from the valimised.ee website. E-voting is possible only using a computer; it cannot yet be done on a smart device. A representative of the election service emphasized that the voter application should not be downloaded from any other site.

Authentication requires either an ID card or Mobile-ID.

For secure and smooth e-voting, it is advisable to check beforehand whether the ID card certificates are valid, whether the latest ID card software is installed on the computer, whether the computer's operating system needs updates or whether the antivirus software requires updating.

Within 15 minutes after voting, it is possible to check the arrival of one's e-vote using a smart device (smartphone, tablet). To do this, one must download or update the electronic voting verification application from Google Play or the App Store.

Results will not be made public before midnight

Although polling stations in Estonia close on Sunday at 8 p.m., allowing vote counting to begin, the publication of results can only start after midnight due to the European Union's unified rules.

Estonian electoral committees will start counting votes after the voting ends at 8 p.m. At the same time, the Tallinn city vote counting commission begins to count the votes of those who voted abroad, and after 8 p.m., the national election service will determine the results of electronic voting.

However, voting results cannot be published before voting has ended in all European Union member states. Since the last polling station closes in Italy on June 9 at 11 p.m. (Estonian time at midnight), preliminary results in Estonia can only be published at midnight on June 10.

Running possible on a party's list or as an independent

From Estonia, seven individuals are elected to the European Parliament, who may run either as independent candidates or on party lists. An independent candidate participates in the distribution of mandates in the same manner as a party list with a single candidate.

Party lists may contain no more than nine candidates. A deposit of €4,100 per candidate must be paid into the state budget, making it €36,900 for a full list of nine members.

To participate in the European Parliament elections, a candidate must be eligible to vote and at least 21 years old. Active military personnel, individuals declared incompetent regarding voting rights, those convicted of a crime and those serving a prison sentence cannot run. However, if the prison sentence has not been enforced – meaning the individual has received a suspended sentence – they may run.

A candidate may run only on one party list and cannot simultaneously run on a party list and as an independent. The European Parliament Election Act requires that a candidate on a party's list must either be a member of that party or a candidate without party affiliation; running as a member of another party is not allowed.

The European Parliament elections utilize open lists, meaning that although parties determine the order of candidates on their lists through internal procedures, the number of votes each candidate receives ultimately decides their position for the allocation of mandates. In the reordered list of the party, the mandate goes to the candidate who is higher up on the list.

How many votes are needed for a mandate?

While Estonia had six seats in the European Parliament in the 2004, 2009 and 2014 elections, the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Brexit) on February 1, 2020, led to a redistribution of seats in the Parliament, granting Estonia a seventh representative.

Based on data from the last three elections, a list or independent candidate needs to gather over 34,000 votes, about a tenth of all votes cast, to secure a mandate in the European Parliament.

In the 2009 European Parliament elections, 399,181 voters participated, resulting in a turnout of 43.9 percent. The Center Party's list received 103,506 votes (26.1 percent) and won two mandates, independent candidate Indrek Tarand received 102,460 votes (25.8 percent), the Reform Party received 60,877 votes (15.3 percent) and one mandate, Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL) received 48,492 votes (12.2 percent) and one mandate and the Social Democratic Party (SDE) received 34,508 votes (8.7 percent) and one mandate. SDE secured a mandate with 8.7 percent of the vote because, although Tarand gathered enough votes for two mandates, he could not use the second one.

In 2014, 329,766 citizens voted in the European elections in Estonia, with a turnout of 36.5 percent. The Reform Party won the elections with 79,849 votes (24.3 percent) and secured two mandates. The Center Party received 73,419 votes (22.4 percent) but only secured one mandate. IRL received 45,765 votes (13.9 percent) and one mandate, SDE received 44,550 votes (13.6 percent) and one mandate and independent candidate Indrek Tarand secured the sixth mandate with 43,369 votes (13.2 percent).

In 2019, 332,859 EU citizens voted in the European Parliament elections in Estonia, resulting in a turnout of 37.6 percent. The Reform Party won again, receiving a total of 87,160 votes (26.2 percent) and securing two seats. SDE also received two mandates with 77,375 votes (23.3 percent), the Center Party received one mandate with 47,799 votes (14.4 percent), the Estonian Conservative People's Party (EKRE) received one seat with 42,265 votes (12.7 percent) and the seventh seat went to Isamaa, which received 34,188 votes (10.3 percent).

Vote magnets

The highest number of votes ever received by an individual in the European Parliament elections in Estonia was by independent candidate Indrek Tarand, who received 102,460 votes in 2009, constituting 25.8 percent of all 396,982 votes cast in Estonia at that time.

Proportionally, the highest percentage of votes – 32.5 percent of all votes cast – was garnered in 2004 by Toomas Hendrik Ilves, running on the Social Democratic Party's list, who with such a vote haul brought along Marianne Mikko and Ivari Padar into the parliament.

The third-best result was achieved in 2019 by SDE's lead candidate Marina Kaljurand, who was supported by 65,549 votes, or 19.7 percent of all votes.

Reform Party candidate Andrus Ansip received 45,022 votes (13.7 percent) in 2014 and 41,017 votes in 2019, which made up 12.3 percent of all votes cast.

Additional information on European Parliament elections can be found by clicking these blue words.

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