The debate on voting rights in Narva is growing increasingly intense, reflecting broader societal concerns.

Russian citizens making up about a third of Narva's population of a little under 54,000, meaning local politicians remain uncertain how excluding them from local elections might impact results or turnout, though they acknowledged it would likely leave former voters feeling embittered.

Narva deputy and former mayor Katri Raik (SDE) said that many residents feel they will get "one vote per family," and warned that if one is barred from voting, for instance, it could deter their partner and lead to a "protest vote" by not going to the polling station at all.

She said: "Often ahead of Riigikogu elections, people say that in our family, we have one vote. If that is the case, how will Narva residents react if, say, the husband can't go to vote. Will the wife turn out at all? We must prepare ourselves for some serious protest voting."

 Eesti 200 deputy Denis Larchenko also cautioned that removing voting rights could bring pessimism in society, at least temporarily and especially since many residents have close ties to Russian citizens

 "It is unclear what would happen next, how life would be lived here overall. Many people still have relatives, friends, close acquaintances who are Russian citizens," Larchenko said.

Tarmo Tammiste, vice-chair of the Center Party's Narva district, said that removing Russian citizens' right to vote would not be followed by massive changes.

Overall, the situation in Narva would resemble previous Riigikogu elections, despite changes in voter demographics that the policy would bring.

 At the 2023 Riigikogu elections, "Mihhail Stalnuhhin and Aivo Peterson got a significant portion of the votes," Tammiste said.

Stalnuhhin was expelled from the Center Party in late 2022 after referring to then-prime minister Kaja Kallas and others as "nazis," Aivo Peterson ran for the pro-Kremlin Koos/Vmeste party in March 2023.

In any case, only Estonian citizens can vote at Riigikogu elections, suggesting that removing the right to vote from Russian citizens might not completely resolve the issue it set out to do – ie. of preventing votes for candidates and party's detrimental to Estonia's national security.

 "The numbers, in terms of the total number of voters, will be smaller, but the overall picture likely won't change much," Tammiste said.

Pressuring the electorate rather than those they are expected to vote for also might not be the most effective approach, he noted.

In order to change the makeup of Narva's city council, it would be more effective to apply pressure on council members rather than on the voters themselves. This would include even simply on language matters.

 "For example, a deputy should provide proof of at least a B2 level in Estonian," Tammiste said.

"That would indeed bring about a significant change, and not just in Narva," he added.

Larchenko also mentioned that a loyalty test should be applied to candidates rather than to the voters, as previously suggested by Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets (SDE), to ensure they are committed to Estonia's welfare.

He said: "Here, Läänemets has previously suggested a kind of loyalty test. I would propose that it's not the voters who should take it, but rather the candidates themselves. If we're talking about being pro-Estonia, then they should prove in advance that they are.

Either way, voter turnout in recent years in Narva and in Ida-Viru County has been lower than the country as a whole. Turnout at the March 2023 Riigikogu elections was 46 percent in Narva, which would translate to just about 20 percent of the town's residents voting in local elections if Russian citizens were to be excluded.

The town was for many years a Center Party stronghold, but this was evidently in decline even as early on as the March 2019 Riigikogu elections.

The next local elections take place in October 2025.

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