The Estonian government wants to change the constitution so that Russians cannot vote in municipal elections | News in brief

The Estonian government wants to change the constitution so that

A quick amendment to the constitution requires a four-fifths majority in the Estonian parliament.

Estonia’s governing parties decided on Monday that they want to change the voting rights of the Estonian constitution in an accelerated manner, says Estonian public radio ERR.

The goal of the change is to ban citizens of Russia and Belarus from voting in municipal elections.

The governing parties want to hold a vote on amending the constitution by Thursday, so that the amendment will come into force before next year’s municipal elections.

An accelerated amendment of the constitution requires a four-fifths majority of the members of the parliament.

In the government’s proposal, citizens of NATO countries, EU countries, Switzerland and, for example, Ukraine would still be allowed to vote in municipal elections.

There is still a dispute between the parties about whether stateless people living in the country should be allowed to vote in municipal elections. About 60,000 people live in Estonia who, as a result of the breakup of the Soviet Union, do not have the citizenship of any country. Many of them are of Russian background.

In the last municipal elections in 2021, approximately 30,000 Russian citizens exercised their right to vote.

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