These are elevating the voting rights of non-citizens to a constitutional level, firstly, and secondly, the issue of conducting loyalty checks – though Eesti 200 MP Hendrik Johannes Terras has said the latter provision would not be included in the constitutional amendment in any case.

Appearing on Wednesday evening's "Esimene stuudio," Helme said: "This is not currently covered [by the Estonian Constitution] and has never been; it is addressed by lower-level legislation. Now, they want to elevate it to the constitutional level."

"This would serve to weaken the Constitution significantly and create a major legal loophole in state law, over the long term. Not just for those who currently hold gray passports; who can guarantee that Russia won't instruct its citizens to discard their passports and obtain gray ones?" Helme continued, referring to travel documents issued by Estonia to persons of indeterminate citizenship residing here – overwhelmingly Russian speakers, but not Russian citizens.

"We would then be back to square one with this discussion," the EKRE leader went on.

The second issue, Helme said, is potential ideological vetting. "[SDE chair and Minister of the Interior] Lauri Läänemets has proposed an outrageous idea, one rooted in totalitarian ideology—that of quizzing voters about their loyalties ahead of elections and then deciding whether to allow them to vote," he continued.

"This is also included in this draft of the constitutional amendment, and must be removed," he said, adding that loyalty checks are already conducted when individuals take the citizenship exam in Estonia.

Center Party chair and former Tallinn Mayor Mihhail Kõlvart, also appearing on "Esimene stuudio," argued the other side of the coin, against basing loyalty or ideology on citizenship status, on the basis that with the current war, the Russian state is making it harder for Russian citizens to renounce their citizenship before taking Estonian citizenship.

This is despite a desire to integrate into Estonian society, Kõlvart noted.
"Integration monitoring shows that more than half want to renounce Russian citizenship yet are unable to. Many are even willing to fight for Estonia. Are we going to give up on these people?" he said.

Isamaa MP Helir-Valdor Seeder meanwhile expressed concerns about national security, arguing that only Estonian citizens permanently residing in Estonia should vote in local elections in any case.

Priit Lomp (SDE), whose party, of the three coalition partners, has been the most resistant to stripping Russian nationals of their voting rights in Estonia, proposed a registration requirement to limit foreign interference.

This would require voters to declare their intentions a month before election day, to prevent manipulation via social media or other means.

Hendrik Johannes Terras, who is chair of the Riigikogu's Constitutional Affairs Committee, reaffirmed that ideological vetting will not be part of any constitutional amendment.

The issue has come under scrutiny again with the looming municipal elections in October 2025. Local elections have the widest franchise of any direct elections in Estonia and are open to all permanent residents of Estonia.

At present, all those seeking Estonian citizenship by naturalization must, ahead of this, renounce their existing citizenship.

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