Speaking to ERR, Terras, the chair of the Constitutional Committee of the Riigikogu, explained that the core of the bill is to detail who can vote in local elections.

"That is, Estonian citizens, citizens of NATO states, EU citizens, citizens of the European Economic Area, citizens of the Swiss Confederation as well as citizens of countries with whom Estonia has Riigikogu-ratified bilateral agreements in place ensuring voting rights," he said.

"Currently, no such agreements exist," he added. "The condition [for such agreements] is that these people are also permanent residents here."

According to Terras, the last of these sections was included in the bill with the aim of concluding such an agreement with Ukraine, in order to secure voting rights in the future for Ukrainian citizens living in Estonia.

"Exactly," he said. "Ukraine is the most important here; there are a lot of Ukrainians in Estonia."

He did not rule out that similar agreements could be concluded in the future with Japan or Australia, for example. Terras also added that this had been proposed by the Reform Party.

"We're trying to work this section out in a way that it would be constitutional," he stressed.

Terras explained that the coalition council will issue its final decision on Monday, adding that he believes the bill could be submitted to the Riigikogu next Wednesday at the latest.

The Social Democratic Party (SDE), a fellow member of the current government coalition, has not yet formed a position on whether they support a constitutional amendment on voting rights.

Prime Minister and Reform Party chair Kristen Michal said this past Monday that the government aims to amend the Constitution so that a year from now, Russian and Belarusian citizens living in Estonia would no longer be able to vote in local government elections.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!