Speaking to "Esimene stuudio," the justice chancellor said in today's world, voting rights tend to be seen as a fundamental human right.

This is enshrined in the stance of the Council of Europe's Venice Commission, which states that long-term residents of a European country should have the right to vote in local elections in that country.

Nonetheless, Madise said, sometimes fundamental rights do get restricted or taken away, in special cases.

"In general terms it is considered best practice to enlarge human rights and freedoms. Yet times and trends change, and there are cases where they can also get restricted."

Madise noted that speaking as Chancellor of Justice she cannot state if the Estonian Constitution can be amended too readily.

However, at politicians should comprehensively and with an honest approach analyze the wording and effects of all and any legislative changes in this area, and think several steps ahead.

She said: "If the current Riigikogu were to assess the situation and the long-term benefits for the Estonian people, for internal peace and the strengthening of Estonia's foreign policy positions differently from how the Constitutional Assembly did; if the Riigikogu were to consider all the desired and undesired effects, tp find a very reasonable and applicable constitutional amendment text, and were to discuss it as the Constitution itself prescribes, and if the President of the Republic promulgates it – since the president has the right to refuse to do so – and, finally, the amendment comes into force, then the Constitution will be amended. And that is how things are – the Riigikogu would have disbursed its tasks, and it is our duty to respect that."

The Constitutional Assembly (Põhiseaduse Assamblee) was the body which drew up the present day Estonian Constitution, in 1991.

Madise expressed her hope that any constitutional amendment does not send a message that the state sees one, major societal group as a general security threat.

"The reason for this is there are no dots to be joined between ensuring national security and resolving issues of local life. None of those people who do pose a threat to Estonia's security should retain a long-term resident permit in any case."

"I have also checked that if someone does commit a crime – and we are not here solely talking about crimes against the state but also other crimes, such as drug-related crimes – then if that person holds a long-term resident permit, it will be revoked," Madise added.

The Chancellor of Justice said while Riigikogu MPs seem to be under the impression it is still viable to amend the Constitution in such a way that it takes effect about four months before the local government elections, in October next year, disputes relating to electoral district mandates may also arise which can hold up the process.

"There is one issue that seems to have gone unnoticed, and which I did not see addressed in the [bill's] explanatory memorandum. This concerns the distribution of mandates between voter districts based on the number of eligible voters."

"This primarily affects Tallinn, where the voting districts are by neighborhood, but it could theoretically also occur elsewhere in Estonia, where there are multiple constituencies in one city or municipality – and the number of eligible voters as of June 1 serves as the basis for this distribution, which in turn affects the 'value' of a constituency mandate," Madise explained.

"There could indeed be a dispute to arise on this if by June 1 the constitutional amendments have not come into force – but if the provision on local council elections has not been amended either the question arises whether it can still be changed in time, since less than a year remains.

"Or whether doing so would be appropriate; this could also lead to disputes, since if you base the distribution of mandates between constituencies on a voter list which still includes these loyal long-term residents, only for them to be excluded come election day, then the mathematical value of a mandate changes. This has been considered as a problem in the past too," the Chancellor of Justice added.

Estonia operates a d'Hondt system of proportional representation which means the total number of votes cast in a district affects the distribution of mandates. If the right to vote for third country nationals is removed, this naturally has a knock-on effect on the distribution, while the proportion of third country nationals who can vote is not evenly distributed nationwide. It is higher in Tallinn, or in Ida-Viru County, for instance, than in other parts of the country.

Tallinn itself is split into eight districts, whereas the 14 other city municipalities are just the one district. The remaining local government divisions are rural municipalities.

--

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