Lääneranna Municipality in Estonia wants to hold a poll on changing counties — ERR News
Lääneranna Municipality in Estonia has asked the State Electoral Service whether it can hold a residents’ poll on transferring to Lääne County at the same time as the 2029 local elections. The municipality is currently part of Pärnu County, ERR News reports.
Conditions for holding the poll
Arne Koitmäe, head of the Electoral Service, said that the law does not prohibit holding a poll on the same day as elections. At the same time, the municipality must clearly separate these procedures for participants and organizers, as they are governed by different rules.
Election data, systems and equipment cannot be used for the poll, and its costs will not be counted as election expenses. Koitmäe also advised assessing whether the municipality has sufficient staff and premises and whether holding the poll on election day would offer a practical advantage.
Residents’ initiative
The idea of an official poll emerged after a public initiative was launched in spring on the Rahvaalgatus.ee platform. Its author, Kristjan Korsten, said that the territory of Lääneranna has closer historical ties with Lääne County. He referred to an informal Facebook poll involving more than 300 people, in which about 70% of participants supported transferring to Lääne County.
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The initiative did not receive the required number of signatures: of 74 signatures, only 41 came from residents who met the established requirements. To reach the threshold of 1% of the municipality’s 4,311 such residents as of June 1, at least 44 signatures were needed. Despite this, the municipal council discussed the matter in August and leaned toward holding the poll together with the local elections.
Mayor Tarvi Sits estimated the cost of the poll at approximately €10,000. Its result will not be binding on the council, but it will be able to vote to support changing counties and send this decision to the Estonian government.
Lääneranna Municipality was formed in 2017 after the merger of four municipalities. Before the reform, Hanila and Lihula belonged to Lääne County, while Koonga and Varbla belonged to Pärnu County. After the merger, the new municipality became part of Pärnu County.
