Voter lists closing on Friday
Friday 1 February is the cut-off date for Estonian citizens living abroad to notify the state of an address change. As the electoral district in which they are entitled to vote depends on their address, anyone moving between 1 February and the election on 3 March will still have to vote for the district where they used to live, the Baltic News Service wrote.
The lists of voters participating in the Estonian parliamentary elections are closing today Friday. The application of anyone who wishes to vote abroad by mail also needs to be received by the Estonian foreign mission in the region on this same day, BNS wrote.
According to the National Electoral Committee, changes made to one's place of residence or stay after 1 February will no longer be taken into consideration when designating a person's electoral district.
"If a person moves after 1 February, or their address changes for any other reason, they will only be able to vote for a candidate in their previous district of residence on election day, and they will have to do so at a polling station corresponding to their old address," Priit Vinkel, head of the State Electoral Committee, said.
Mr Vinkel added that changes to one's information can be made until the end of the working week both on the Eesti.ee web portal as well as at local council offices.
Anyone who wants to vote but isn't registered in Estonia's population register will need to get this taken care of in order to participate in the general election on 3 March. From the beginning of early voting right until election day, local authorities will enter the information in the population register without any delay, which means that all people who wish to vote still have the opportunity to do so.
"It is also important to point out that everyone who permanently resides abroad can vote at [their local] Estonian polling station during early voting," Mr Vinkel said.
"They cannot vote on election day, as on that day it is only possible to vote at the polling station of one's registered place of residence. In order to do that, however, one needs to be registered in Estonia," he added.
This last point affects eg those Estonians whose permanent place of work and residence is Finland, but who visit Estonia at weekends, as well as those who live in Estonia, but are registered in another country.
Further information on polling stations is provided in Estonian on the population registry's election website valimised.rahvastikuregister.ee .
Riigikogu elections will take place on 3 March. Early voting and e-voting will start on 21 February.
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Editor: Dario Cavegn
