The draft states that voters who are citizens of another country and want to participate in local elections in Estonia should submit an application to be entered into the electoral roll at least 30 days before the elections take place.

In the application, the voter would have to indicate their nationality, address and the constituency in the country of origin where they were last registered. They must also confirm that they have not been deprived of the right to vote in their country of origin, that they are familiar with the Estonian Constitution and will abide by the constitutional order while living here. They would also be required to confirm that they condemn Russia's aggression in Ukraine and recognize Estonia's sovereignty.

The explanatory memorandum to the draft bill states that, according to the Constitution, it is down to the legislator to determine the requirements for individuals to stand as electoral candidates. While the current Local Government Council Election Act allows foreign nationals with long-term residence permits to stand for local elections, there are also restrictions according to the conditions under which a long-term residence permit has been granted. These include the need to have a steady income, health insurance and B1-level Estonian language skills.

At present, the process of drawing up the list of foreign nationals eligible to vote in Estonian local elections is similar to during the European Parliament elections. Voters can also apply electronically.

According to the proposed draft, on the basis of a reasoned request from a security authority or the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) Intelligence Center, a person could be removed from the list if their activities contradict the conditions stated when their application was submitted. For instance, if they are in violation of the Constitutional order, or if their activities show that they do not condemn Russian aggression or do not recognize Estonian sovereignty.

Security authorities not obliged to request removal of person from list

The explanatory memorandum points out that, while the draft allows the security authorities to submit a reasoned request for the removal of a person from the electoral roll, they are not obliged to do so.

"Firstly, we are not creating a new type of procedure or operational obligation for the authorities. The authorities will be able to assess, on the basis of the information already available (and will not have to obtain new information separately), whether it is appropriate to submit a request to remove a person from the list," the explanatory memorandum states.

"In addition, the authorities may have other security considerations, whereby they do not wish to declare publicly that a person is of interest to them in relation to another procedure," says the explanatory memorandum to the draft.

A request to remove a voter from the list would, under the draft, be a rather exceptional case that must be clearly justified.

"This cannot be a general form of so-called 'mind control.' No new monitoring procedure is therefore expected. The reasoned request must contain fixed and proven information that the person's actions do not comply with the Constitutional order of Estonia or do not support the sovereignty of the state (for example, the person has desecrated the Estonian flag in order to show that the state should not exist) or that the person has acted in a manner that, contrary to what has been declared, supports the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine (for example, the person has attempted to bring drones or components into the Russian Federation in order to assist the Russian Federation in its war against Ukraine)," the memorandum says.

The amendment requires a majority vote in the Riigikogu to be adopted.

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