Summary

The members of a representative body of a local government, directly legitimised at municipal elections, are to decide on all relevant local issues in a rural municipality or town concerned. This gives rise to an acute need to clarify what rights a member of a council can exercise within the framework of his or her free mandate, what the content of a specific right is and how he or she can protect his or her rights. The article focuses above all on the more important individual rights of a member of a council: their identification, explaining their substance and highlighting the deficiencies of legal regulation. The discussion of the protection of rights is above all confined to delimiting the various protection options available for a member of a council and to highlighting the author’s preferences for improving them.

The first part of the article discusses the relation between the mandate of a council member and the fundamental election rights.  The second part determines the content of the principle of a free mandate of a member of a council. The third, fourth and fifth part examine various individual rights of a council member in the European Charter of Local Self-Government, the Local Government Organisation Act, local government statues and other legislation of general application. Because of the large number of rural municipalities and towns (226 all in all), the statutes and other acts of general application of only six local government units—three rural municipalities (Viimsi, Jõhvi, Rae) and towns having the largest number of residents (Tallinn, Tartu, Narva)—have been examined. In the sixth part of the article, the author discusses some amendment options de lege ferenda related to the individual rights of a member of a council, pinpointing his preferences.