Due to security concerns, the Riigikogu aims to prevent Russian and Belarusian citizens from voting next fall; up to now all foreign nationals registered permanently resident in Estonia have been eligible to vote in local elections.

Raidla stated voting rights should be granted only to Estonian and EU citizens, which would not only exclude citizens of Russia and Belarus but would also place citizens of NATO member states resident in Estonia alongside the latter, so far as local elections go.

Explaining his rationale, Raidla said: "As we know, citizens of other EU countries, like our own citizens, are EU too."

"This does not extend, for example, to NATO citizens," he went on, noting the two groups share clear citizenship definitions.

In other words, the basis of the right to vote to the municipalities would switch from being defined by residency to defined by citizenship, under Raidla's proposal.

"Until now, the concept has been based on permanent residency. If we switch to a citizenship-based concept, the definition of an Estonian citizen is clear. The EU, too, is an institution of shared citizenship," he added.

The current draft bill to remove Russian and Belarusian citizens' voting rights in Estonia leaves NATO citizens eligible to vote.

It does the same for so-called gray passport holders, those who have no citizenship of any nation – though in practice are generally Russian-speaking – but permanently reside in Estonia and are granted a gray-colored passport so they can travel.

Another consideration is timing, with the election now around 10 months away.

A majority at the Riigikogu wants the constitutional amendment to take effect by that time.

According to Raidla, while this is technically feasible, it is not ideal from a constitutional law perspective.

He said: "According to the Venice Convention, changes of this kind should ideally take effect a year [or more] before the elections."

At the same time, the convention is an ideal, he noted.

"In reality, this is not a legally binding international agreement, so implementing changes is still legally viable," Raidla continued.

Hendrik Johannes Terras, chairman of the Constitutional Committee, acknowledged that the one-year advance notice would be ideal, but defended the shorter timeline, too.

He said: "We have taken into consideration that the [one-year lag] would indeed be best practice; we have expressed this intent a year earlier [than the election]."

As of now the notice period might be more like half-a-year, Terras added.

He said: "While the law won't be enacted then, it will be passed seven months before the elections, which isn't overly immediate. A year would be ideal, but in my view, seven months doesn't constitute a major restriction on rights."

Notwithstanding the Raidla proposal, whether voting rights will remain restricted to Estonian and EU citizens or also include NATO citizens and gray passport holders, as outlined in the coalition's compromise proposal, remains unclear at this point in time.

The bill is due for its second reading (of three) in February.

The opposition has expressed reservations about its current content.

Isamaa, for instance, continues to believe that gray passport holders should not be allowed to vote, though MP Helir-Valdor Seeder implied that this would apply to citizens of NATO states and even of the EU.

He said: "Isamaa's clear position is that the Constitution should succinctly and clearly state that only Estonian citizens permanently residing in Estonia have the right to vote in local elections. End of."

Local elections have the widest franchise of all direct elections in Estonia; all EU citizens resident in Estonia can vote in European Parliament elections, while Riigikogu elections, held every five years, are only open to Estonian citizens.

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