Estonia has decided to reduce the rights of Russian citizens who have been living on its territory for years. The country plans to revoke their and Belarusians’ right to vote in local elections, a measure aimed at countering what the government sees as the risk of pro-Kremlin influence.
About a quarter of the Baltic nation’s population, which amounts to a total of around 1.3 million inhabitants, speaks Russian. While the majority of them are Estonian citizens or stateless persons, it is estimated that around 80 thousand people hold Russian citizenship, and according to Estonian law, they still have the right to vote in local elections. In addition, the approximately 3 thousand Belarusian citizens who live within the Baltic country must be added to these estimates.
As Bloomberg reports, following the invasion of Ukraine ordered by Vladimir Putin in 2022, the Estonian government began to promote a series of restrictive policies towards the Federation and in general aimed at curbing the influence that Moscow could have exercised on the country thanks to the strong Russian-speaking community. The measures included transitioning Russian-language schools to Estonian and calling on the Russian Orthodox Church in the country to sever relations with Moscow’s leadership.
On the revocation of the right to vote, Prime Minister Kristen Michal had to overcome the initial resistance of her social democratic allies, who initially criticized the move, which in fact would also have repercussions on other foreign citizens.
Although the bill was designed to target Russian citizens, it would also limit local voting rights to citizens of the European Union, NATO and other nations, because the intervention cannot be targeted only at one nationality . The rules will need to be approved by parliament in Tallinn and signed by Estonia’s president and could be subject to a court challenge before coming into force, ahead of local elections in October next year.
“We recommend that our parliamentary factions change the constitution as soon as possible so that citizens of the aggressor nations are no longer decision-makers in our local elections,” Michal told public broadcaster Err.
