Estonia, Legislation, Society

62 MPs voted for the bill and 10 were against. Centre Party MPs, who had criticised the bill severely, did not participate in the voting.

The corresponding law was approved in February this year with 62 votes by the previous composition of the parliament and its adoption and amendment of the Constitution required the approval of the current Riigikogu too. For this, the bills had to collect at least 61 support votes.

Social Democrats, the initiators of amending the Constitution, said that the decision to lower the voting age from the current 18 years was a thoroughly considered decision that enhances the cohesion of society. The initiators of the bill noted in the explanatory memorandum that the Estonian society keeps aging, therefore the importance of senior voters is increasing in the elections and thus the age of the people that pass the decisions on the issues concerning the life of the young is ever growing.

Lowering of voting age would increase the percentage of young people among the eligible voters. There are around 24,000 young people aged 16–17 years in Estonia. Presuming that on average 60 percent of them would participate in the elections, it could mean that there would be 14,000 to 15,000 more voters at the local municipality elections.