Estonian government wants to fast-track voting rights constitutional amendment
The three parties of Estonia's current government coalition decided at Monday's coalition council meeting to pursue amending the Constitution in expedited procedure regarding voting rights, said Prime Minister Kristen Michal (Reform).
"Today, we agreed in the coalition council that we will recommend our parliamentary groups amend the Constitution as a matter of urgency so that citizens of aggressor states will no longer be decision-makers in local elections," Michal told ERR, using the formal term for the process.
MP Hendrik Terras (Eesti 200), chair of the Constitutional Committee of the Riigikogu, stated that a working group is still slated to convene to clarify the text of the bill, which is hoped to reach the Session Hall of the Riigikogu on Thursday morning.
"If we submit it by 10 a.m. Thursday, we'll have time to get it done before the next elections in 2025," Terras noted.
Section 166 of the Constitution of Estonia states that a four-fifths majority of the Riigikogu is needed to adopt a resolution to consider a bill to amend the Constitution as a matter of urgency, i.e. within the current makeup of the Riigikogu alone. In this case, a two-thirds majority of all members of the Riigikogu is then required to pass the Constitutional amendment.
According to Terras, the text of the bill is being worded to specify who is eligible to vote.
Last Friday, he specified 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.
The last of these would presumably allow for granting Ukrainian citizens who live in Estonia the right to vote in the future.
The committee chair acknowledged that there is still no consensus on disenfranchising holders of gray passports, i.e. stateless persons.
Social Democratic Party (SDE) chair Lauri Läänemets said that they compromised with their coalition partners.
"In a situation where we can see our proposal alone will not be supported, we compromised," he said. "This means that the SDE's proposal to register for elections will also start being handled soon, along with the constitutional amendment, if the Social Democrats's board and parliamentary group approve it tomorrow."
Läänemets advised that those Russian citizens, Belarusian citizens and stateless persons who still want to vote in local elections should obtain Estonian citizenship.
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Editor: Aleksander Krjukov, Aili Vahtla
