Turnout at the local elections on Sunday was measured at almost 60 percent, the second-highest result on record, according to preliminary data.

The initial figures suggest 59.3 percent of eligible voters cast their vote, but the number was revised down to 59.2 percent.

A total of 593,883 people voted, of whom 323,065 voted with a paper ballot and 270,818 by e-voting.

Turnout was highest in Lääne County at 63.8 percent, followed by Hiiu County with 63.4 percent.

In Tallinn, 60.7 percent of voters cast their vote, a significantly higher percentage than four years ago, when it was measured at 54.5 percent.

Turnout in Ida-Viru County also rose by over 5 percentage points from 47.3 percent in 2021 to 53.5 percent.

The only time turnout at a local election has been higher was in 2009, when it rose to 60.6 percent.

The lowest turnout was in the 2005 local elections, when 47.4 percent of voters participated nationwide.

E-voting results are expected around 10 p.m. and paper ballots at approximately midnight.

Political scientist: Turnout was expected to rise

Mari-Liis Jakobson, professor of comparative politics at Tallinn University, told ERR that comparisons can be made with 2009.

“2009 saw the highest voter turnout, driven by a major economic crisis that brought people to the ballot boxes. Dissatisfaction can lead to higher turnout. So, parallels can be drawn with 2009,” she told ERR’s election night show.

Speaking about residents who lost their right to vote in this election, which is mostly Russian citizens, she said: “That segment who lost the right to vote — namely, third-country nationals — had shown lower participation in the past. So even based on that, it could be predicted that voter turnout would increase this time.”

Stateless people will lose their votes at the next election. Jakobson said it seems that this group was more mobilized than before.

“At the same time, people with so-called gray passports took the opportunity to vote now, since this was their last chance,” she said.

Mari-Liis Jakobson. Source: ETV

This article was updated to correct the revised figures.

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