You are entitled and encouraged to complain if your right to vote or more generally your right to free election has not been observed.

State Electoral Office

If you find that an elections manager has infringed your rights or otherwise violated the law, you may submit a notice concerning a deficiency in electoral management within three days after the violation to the State Electoral Office. The notice can be submitted orally or in writing.

National Electoral Committee

If you find that your rights have been infringed by an act of an elections manager, you may also file a complaint with the National Electoral Committee. The complaint must be prepared in writing and meet the requirements stipulated in the law.

Supreme Court

If you find that an act or a decision of the National Electoral Committee infringes your rights, you may file a complaint or appeal with the Supreme Court pursuant to the procedure prescribed in the Constitutional Review Court Procedure Act.

Administrative Court

If you are prevented from voting because a decision is made not to add you to the list of voters, you can challenge this decision in the administrative court in accordance with the Code of Administrative Court Procedure. If the decision is based on a legal provision that prohibits you from voting and this violates your human rights, the administrative court may also initiate a constitutional review procedure at the Supreme Court to declare the particular legal provision restricting your right to vote to be incompatible with the Constitution.

Police

If you notice signs of a crime or a misdemeanour during the election period, you should report it to the police by calling 112 or submit it in writing. The police process the following offences provided for in the Penal Code, Riigikogu Election Act, Municipal Council Election Act and European Parliament Election Act:

  • interference with elections or a referendum, or with determination or announcement of the results
  • violation of freedom of election – preventing a person from voting or promising benefits with the intention of persuading the person not to exercise their voting rights or to exercise such rights in a certain way
  • falsification at elections – damaging, destruction, elimination, falsification of election or voting documents or incorrect counting of votes
  • election fraud – voting more than once, participation in an election without the right to vote or in the name of another person
  • violation of confidentiality of voting – illegal examination of the choice made by another person in an election
  • interference with lawful election campaigning
  • unlawful campaigning
  • failure to submit information or materials or to comply with resolution of electoral committee
  • taking ballot paper out of polling place

Data Protection Inspectorate

Where there are violations of personal data protection, for example, if the personal data of voters is obtained illegally from a polling station, you should contact the Data Protection Inspectorate.

Complaints to international human rights bodies

If you believe that a violation of your rights has not been remedied by Estonian institutions or courts, you can submit a complaint to international and European institutions, such as the European Court of Human Rights or the UN Human Rights Committee.

Resources

Last updated 08/04/2023