Fourteen general election complaints received
The State Electoral Office (Estonian: Riigi valimisteenistus) received a total of 14 complaints connected with last Sunday's general election, it is reported.
Most of the complaints were connected with e-voting, which took place during the advance voting period, 21-27 February, and not on election day itself.
Opponents of the e-vote, dominated by the Reform Party which took 40% of the vote, had in the past questioned aspects of security, reliability and fairness; last week the Richness of Life party requested an e-vote recount.
Some confusion also arose during the advance voting period as to whether an e-vote could be overridden on election day at a polling station. Whilst the answer to this was confirmed by the electoral office to not be the case, e-votes could reportedly be superseded by a paper vote during the advance voting period itself.
Other complaints lodged with the electoral office include the rights of prison inmates to vote or even run in elections, or simply just appear on electoral rolls, it is reported.
According to the electoral office website, those currently serving prison time for criminal offences can neither vote nor run in elections. Several of the political parties struck significant numbers of party members off their lists who had extant criminal records, including Reform and Centre.
The electoral office is to start addressing the 14 complaints on Monday.
According to its site, complaints must be filed within three working days of the electoral event (in this case by around end of business last Wednesday) and the complaints should be reviewed by the committee within five working days of their receipt.
Editor: Andrew Whyte