Estonia limits voting rights for Russian minority

Estonia bans non-EU citizens from local elections amid security concerns following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Estonia's President on Wednesday (April 9, 2025) signed into law a constitutional amendment banning non-EU citizens from taking part in local elections, a move targeting the large Russian minority in the Baltic State.

Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favour of the change on March 26 as fears grew about security in the country since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

President Alar Karis's office announced the ban on "third-country nationals" participating in local elections in a statement, saying it was about "protecting the unity of Estonian society".

But in a statement, it urged those affected by the ban not to think that they had been excluded from society or believe that the state "sees them only as a security risk".

The new measure will primarily affect some 80,000 Russians living in the former Soviet republic, which gained independence in 1991.

Permanent residents in Estonia until now had the constitutional right to vote in local polls but not in parliamentary elections.

Relations between Moscow and the three Baltic capitals — Tallin, Riga and Vilnius — have long been deteriorating as tensions mount between Russia and the West.