A 16-member election observation delegation of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, led by Jana Fischerova (Czechia, ECR), concluded yesterday its mission to observe the local elections on Sunday 19 October 2025. This was the first time the Congress observed elections in Estonia.
Prior to the on-site mission, the delegation held meetings on 17-18 October with key election stakeholders and representatives of the diplomatic corps, the media and civil society. It also held discussions with political parties and candidates running in the 2025 elections.
On election day, seven Congress teams visited over 75 polling stations throughout the country from opening to closing and counting. Overall, the delegation observed a calm, professional and well-managed election day, in line with European electoral standards, with no major incidents or anomalies despite high numbers of voters. Procedures were simple and applied uniformly by well-trained polling station officials. However, consideration could be given to reinforce the accessibility of polling stations and to further ensure secrecy of the vote by standardising their layout. In urban centres, observers noted the many activities of political parties in front of polling stations, making it challenging to prevent campaigning materials being brought inside polling stations, and they believed it could be further regulated.
Commenting on the overall mission, Head of delegation Jana Fischerova noted:
“The electoral process provided many opportunities for all eligible voters, starting at the age of 16, to vote on election day and in advance in polling stations and via internet voting. We underlined the commitment of voters to local democracy, reflected by one of the highest participation rates in local elections in Estonia, 59.2%.
The delegation particularly recognised the efforts of the Estonian authorities to make e-voting secure and reliable, including during the counting process where they strived to explain the technical intricacies of the system in a transparent manner. While we noted inherent limits associated with internet voting, including related to the secrecy of vote and transparency, the system was viewed as implemented in the spirit of the Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to member States on standards for e-voting.
The constitutional amendments limiting the right to vote of third-country citizens, while widely agreed upon in Parliament, were still adopted less than six months before the election day, contrary to international good practice. They became an important campaign topic driving participation but also creating some confusion on election day for disenfranchised voters.
Furthermore, we welcomed that the campaign was competitive and fair, and citizens were provided with a large number of political options. The media, in particular at local level, provided balanced and extensive information to all voters, and interlocutors stated that systematic disinformation during election campaign was not witnessed. The campaign topics were mostly local and revolved around competencies of local authorities, except in the Capital City of Tallinn.
At the same time, despite an overall positive assessment, the observers believed that more could be done to improve the transparency and oversight of campaign finance, and to strengthen the sanctioning and investigation powers to the Political Party Finance Surveillance Committee. The absence of an expenditure cap was also perceived as potentially resulting in an uneven level playing field between candidates.
Last but not least, while yesterday’s elections displayed an important commitment to local democracy in Estonia, the absence of gender quotas on the list and incentives to promote women candidates affects their participation in local decision making, notably as mayors. We hope that yesterday’s elections will lead to more women being elected in the local councils and as mayors and we recommend additional steps be taken to make local democracy more inclusive.”
Further to the Congress mission, a draft recommendation will be discussed at the Congress session in March 2026 in Strasbourg (France).
Contact: Congress Communication Unit, tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 38 90
Congress webpage on the observation of local and regional elections
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Observing local and regional elections is one of the statutory activities of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. This activity complements the political monitoring of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, which constitutes the cornerstone of local and regional democracy in Europe. It contributes to ensuring the integrity of elections and building voters’ confidence at grassroots’ level. Since 1990, the Congress has conducted about 120 election observation missions in some of the 46 Council of Europe member states and beyond.
