"The goal is to review and update the boundaries of the districts, which have remained unchanged since 2002. In the meantime, there has been significant population migration towards larger urban centers, especially in Harju County, resulting in a situation where the number of mandates allocated per district varies considerably," Kask told ERR.

He noted that in the last election, Lääne-Viru County was allocated five mandates, while Harju and Rapla counties received 13. He mentioned that this trend of increasing disparities between districts might continue.

"Why is it important for the districts to be as equal in size as possible? Firstly, to ensure overall uniformity in the elections, where the major vote magnets of political parties are distributed evenly across Estonia, rather than being concentrated in larger electoral districts. Secondly, it is crucial for small parties or individuals running as independent candidates to have more equal opportunities to secure a personal mandate," the committee head stated.

"If currently a candidate from Lääne-Viru County, whether an independent or from a party receiving less than 5 percent of the vote, needs at least 20 percent of the votes to get into the Riigikogu, in Harju and Rapla counties, despite having a larger number of voters, less than 10 percent of the votes is sufficient," Kask illustrated.

Kask mentioned that the National Electoral Committee will discuss the analysis in September, draw conclusions and send a specific proposal to the Riigikogu on how to proceed with updating the electoral districts.

"We are still debating whether to present specific narrower solution options or submit the entire analysis to the Riigikogu for evaluation and decision-making, but we will likely send some form of proposal to the Riigikogu," Kask said.

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