The Supreme Court rejected a complaint by Reform Party MP Igor Grazin against the Central Electoral Committee after its Tallinn branch refused to cancel the Kristiine borough's voting outcome. Grazin, a Reformist candidate in Tallinn's Oct. 16 poll, justified his complaint with a Supreme Court ruling published two days before the ballot. The legislation forbade members of Parliament from simultaneously representing local councils and also targeted the controversial K-kohuke curd-snack ads.
Three more complaints concerning the Oct. 16 local government elections have reached the Supreme Court through the national election commission, a representative told the Baltic News Service. A member of the electoral bloc Uhtsus (Unity) contested home-voting in the northeastern city of Kohtla-Jarve, and a member of an electoral bloc in Narva protested against the city's controversial curd-snack ads. The third complaint was a re-count demand for votes cast in the Viimsi municipality near Tallinn.
A statue of Lenin that has been lying for years in a Tartu deposit of hazardous large-scale waste will soon be taken to Tallinn. The Culture Ministry has already approved the move, and on Nov. 4, the city government agreed. The culture minister granted permission for the statue to be passed on to the Estonian History Museum as an object of "historical curiosity." The statue will be taken to Maarjamae Hall and added to a display on Estonian history since the 19th century.
Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja from the Social Democratic Party said Finland could open its labor market to citizens of new EU member states as early as May 2006, an alternative to extending Finland's two-year transition period that expires at the end of April. The minister said the decision would be made jointly by three parties 's the government, employers and employees. All three were for ending the restrictions, he said.
Criminal police, in cooperation with the state Prosecutor's Office, staged a nationwide raid on Nov. 1 and uncovered a large number of forged documents. Suspects were detained and several related printing shops closed. Police investigators and members of the special task force K-komando searched 20 different locations, including several printing shops that provided legal services. Equipment needed for counterfeiting, such as computers, scanners and printers, and a large number of fake documents were found in two printing houses.
