EDITORIAL ⟩ The juggling art of the interior minister

Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets in the pulpit of the Riigikogu. The Riigikogu sitting of May 13 on the right of Russian citizens to vote in Estonian local government elections during the war against Ukraine. Photo: Tairo Lutter

• The decision was reached that revoking voting rights requires a constitutional amendment.
• It seems that the train for the 2025 local government elections has already left.
• Social Democrats are trying to capture the votes of the «Russian street».

Members of the Riigikogu constitutional committee, which held a public sitting on Tuesday, overwhelmingly concluded that revoking voting rights for Russian and Belarusian citizens in local government elections requires a constitutional amendment. We are pleased that the members of the parliamentary constitutional committee have reached a stance, but we cannot help but express regret that it took them so long.

Postimees wrote in its editorial back in March that it is necessary to start amending the Constitution immediately, because even as a matter of urgency, it will take at least seven months. If the Riigikogu can muster 81 votes in favor, then the amendment of the Constitution could be done by April of next year. And then there will be another five months until the next local government elections.

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has not clarified what «sufficient time» means for adapting to changes in the election law. This, in turn, means that the amendment can be challenged, and so it seems that the train for the 2025 elections has already left.

We live in a democratic state governed by the rule of law, and changing the Constitution and election law does not have to be easy. However, it should not be impossible, and those who use delaying tactics must also be held accountable. In this case, it is the Social Democratic Party, because no one expects the Center Party to support the withdrawal of voting rights from Russian and Belarusian citizens.

The Social Democrats' argument that without the right to vote, Russian and Belarusian citizens living in Estonia would pose an additional security threat to Estonia was weak from the start, but after Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets' (SDE) speech in the Riigikogu on Tuesday, it lost all credibility.

Savisaar was a skilled juggler who could keep several balls in the air at once, but in the end they still fell on his head. It seems that Lauri Läänemets and Jevgeni Ossinovski have a strong desire to repeat this.

The remarks by Läänemets gave the unintended impression that he is having trouble reconciling his roles. As minister of the interior, he spoke about how a church under the authority of the patriarchate that is justifying war and terrorism is a security threat. However, as the chairman of the Social Democratic Party, he spoke about the participation of citizens of countries that justify war and terrorism in Estonian elections not being a security threat. This talk is not convincing.

Things must be called by their right names. Our columnist Andrey Kuzichkin was right when he wrote a few weeks ago that the Social Democrats are trying to capture the votes of the «Russian street.» And there is indeed something to capture: in the last local elections, the Social Democrats got three percent of the vote in Lasnamäe and the Center Party 77 percent.

But if this is the case, votes are more important for Social Democrats than Estonia's security, not to mention ethics. Because we've already seen it all. This is a page from a textbook written by Edgar Savisaar, on saying one thing to Estonian voters and another to Russian voters.

Savisaar was a skilled juggler who could keep several balls in the air at once, but in the end they still fell on his head. It seems that Lauri Läänemets and Jevgeni Ossinovski have a strong desire to repeat this.