The Republic of Estonia re-established its independence
on 20 August 1991 on the basis of legal continuity of statehood. The
legislative body in which the supreme power of the state is vested is the
parliament, which is elected by proportional representation (PR). The first
fully free and democratic national legislative and presidential elections were held
on 20 September 1992.
According
to the constitution, a citizen who has attained 18 years of age has the right
to vote. Participation in voting may be restricted for citizens who have been
legally incapacitated or have been convicted by a court and are serving
sentences in penal institutions. In legislative elections, every Estonian
citizen with the right to vote who has attained 21 years of age has the right
to stand for election (paragraphs 56–58 and 60 of the constitution).
The
parliament is elected in free, general, uniform and direct elections on the principle
of proportionality.
Entitlement
of external electors
Since
independence was regained, Estonian citizens with foreign residency have been granted
the right to vote in legislative elections and referendums. However, external voting
is not possible in elections to local government councils. External voting was practised
for the first time during the constitutional referendum in June 1992.
In
legislative elections, voters who are permanently resident abroad vote in the electoral
district in Estonia
where they or their parents, or grandparents, were last permanently resident.
Citizens who are staying abroad temporarily vote in the electoral district in
which they are entered on the electoral register, according to their residence (paragraphs
50 and 54 of the Riigikogu Election Act 2002). External electors, both temporarily
and permanently resident abroad, may choose whether to vote at a foreign mission
in person or by post.
Organization
of the external vote
Estonia’s foreign diplomatic missions
organize external voting. The leader of each mission must appoint one of the
officials working there to organize the voting. Their work is coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
which is also responsible for training and for delivering voting materials such
as the electoral registers, ballot papers and envelopes.
Since the
late 1990s, with increased volumes of travel and migration, external voting has
become more significant. There were major changes in the electoral law
concerning external voting in 1998. Estonia is a
small country and does not have many diplomatic missions (there were 35 at the
time of the 2004 elections). In earlier elections many Estonians were not able
to vote because they were living a long distance away from the diplomatic mission.
To overcome this problem, in 1999 a procedure for advance postal voting was introduced.
The option of personal voting at diplomatic missions still remains.
Since 1999
citizens who are staying abroad temporarily have also been able to vote externally,
either at Estonian diplomatic missions or by post. Additionally, according to
the amended election laws, electors who are permanently resident abroad and who
have not voted in the country of residence have the option of casting their
vote in Estonia.
To ensure
the principle of one person, one vote, external voting takes place in advance. At
the diplomatic missions, voting is organized on at least two days in the period
between 15 days and ten days before election day. All external voters’ ballot
papers should be received by the National Election Committee not later than the
fourth day before election day. The National Election Committee then sorts them
and delivers them to the appropriate electoral district. The right to vote is
checked again in the voter’s electoral district to ensure that no one has voted
more than once. The votes are counted on election day itself.
To improve
the checking of their eligibility, all electors, including those living permanently
abroad, are registered in a central population register. Before the start of
the external voting period, the lists of electors are sent to the diplomatic
missions. In certain cases these may be amended by the diplomatic missions.
To ensure
the secrecy of the vote, ballot papers are sent in two envelopes. The inner envelope
is anonymous, and the outer envelope shows the voter’s name and the number of
the electoral district. Once the voter’s eligibility has been checked against
the electoral registers, the outer envelope is removed and the ballot paper in
the anonymous inner envelope is put in the ballot box.
For postal
voting the voter submits a request to the diplomatic mission of his or her country
of residence. If there is no mission in that country the voter addresses the
request to the nearest mission. This must be done not later than 45 days before
election day. Not later than 35 days before election day, the diplomatic
mission sends the voter a ballot paper, the list of candidates and two
envelopes. The voter completes the ballot paper and places it in the two
envelopes. On the outer envelope he or she writes his or her name and the
number of the electoral district. The voter who is staying abroad temporarily
also indicates his or her address in Estonia. He or she then sends the
envelope back to the diplomatic mission, which collects all the ballot papers
and forwards them to the National Election Committee (paragraphs 50–52 of the
Riigikogu Election Act 2002).
Trends
in voting turnout
World War
II and related events created the Estonian diaspora, with Estonians scattered all
over the world. After independence former Estonian citizens and their
descendants living abroad had the right to practically automatic Estonian
citizenship, and many people have taken citizenship in this way. These are the
majority of the electors living permanently abroad. Currently, some 14 per cent
of all Estonians—160,000 persons (Kulu 1997)—live outside the country, but the
number of electors is significantly smaller. For the 2004 elections, according
to the population register about 15,000 Estonians permanently abroad had the
right to vote.
In the
first legislative elections, in 1992 and 1995, external voting was greatly
valued by Estonian citizens living permanently abroad, perhaps because this was
the first time in many years they had had the opportunity to take part in the
political life of the newly independent Estonia. However, the number of
participating voters living permanently abroad has fallen steadily (although in
recent elections the share of permanent external voters among all participating
voters has increased). An exception to the general trend was the referendum on
joining the European Union, in 2003, when total turnout was relatively high and
the turnout of voters living permanently abroad also increased.
In
contrast, the turnout of citizens temporarily abroad increased over the period 1999–2003.
Exceptionally,
in the 2004 elections to the European Parliament turnout was very low in Estonia,
as it was in many other European Union countries.
E-voting
and external voting
In 2002 the
legislative basis for electronic voting was created. The Riigikogu Election Act,
the Local Government Council Election Act, the Referendum Act and the European
Parliament Election Act all cover e-voting. The main object of e-voting is to give
voters an additional option for casting their vote and thereby increase
participation. It allows people to vote via the Internet using a digital
signature and ‘smart’ ID cards for identification purposes. The first e-voting
pilots were conducted in 2004 and 2005 during local referendums and elections,
and in March 2007, in the world’s first national Internet election, remote
e-voting was available to Estonian voters abroad as well as in Estonia (see
National Election Committee, ‘E-voting Project’).
There is
still a concern that people who are permanently resident abroad need a new kind
of document—the ID card—in order to vote electronically. The ID card is a compulsory
domestic identification document, but not many citizens who are resident abroad
have applied for it. On the other hand, for voters who are abroad temporarily, voting
will become easy even in local elections (in which external voting organized by
diplomatic missions is not foreseen).
If e-voting
succeeds and people get used to this method of voting, it may affect external
voting. Personal voting at diplomatic missions in foreign countries and postal voting
are among the most expensive forms of voting. In future, therefore,
consideration may be given to replacing some paper-based ballot procedures with
electronic ballot papers, in particular in connection with external voting.
