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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rait Maruste

Rait Maruste is a member of the Advisory Board of the Constitutional Law Foundation of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. He has served as an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Tartu, President of the Supreme Court of Estonia (1992–1998), and a judge at the European Court of Human Rights (1998–2010). From 2011 to 2015, he was a member of the Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu), where he also chaired the Constitutional Committee.

POSTS BY Rait Maruste

25 April 2025

Rait Maruste

Narrowing the Estonian Electorate

On 26 March 2025, the Parliament of the Republic of Estonia amended the composition of the electorate for local government elections. Prior to this amendment, the Constitution had granted voting rights in local elections to all permanent residents of a municipality. A significant portion of these voters were citizens of the Russian Federation or Belarus, or stateless persons originating from these states. The decision to revise the electorate was driven by the Russian Federation’s war of aggression in Ukraine, and increasing influence operations in both Estonia and Europe more broadly. Continue reading >>

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17 May 2020

Rait Maruste

State of Emergency in Estonia

Due to the COVID-19 epidemic the Estonian Government (Vabariigi Valitsus), without consulting the parliament (Riigikogu), declared by Order Nr. 76 on 12 March 2020 a state of emergency (eriolukord), defining the epidemic as an “emergency situation”. This is the first time in our modern history where a state of emergency has been declared. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs subsequently informed the Council of Europe of the Estonian derogation under Article 15 of the European Convention of Human Rights. Continue reading >>

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