principle of uniform elections a special case of general right to equality, established in § 12 of the Constitution. 22. Through legislation concerning suffrage the legislator has guaranteed all voters the legal possibility to vote in a similar manner. In the legal sense the system of electronic voting is equally accessible to all voters at local government council elections. Pursuant to § 5(1) and § 6(1) of Identity Documents Act, the identity card (ID-card) necessary for electronic voting is mandatory both for an Estonian citizen staying permanently in Estonia and an alien staying permanently in Estonia on the basis of a valid residence permit. Thus, the state has created no legal obstacles to anyone to electronic voting, including to changing ones vote during the time prescribed for advance polls. 23. The Minister of Justice and the Chancellor of Justice refer to the possibility that the fact that due to factual inequality the possibility to change one's vote through electronic voting is not equally accessible to all voters can be regarded as an infringement of the general right to equality and the principle of uniformity. The Chamber also examines this allegation and points out that the existence of such infringement of the general right to equality and the principle of uniformity does not amount to an unconstitutional violation of the referred electoral principles. In order to answer the question of whether the possibility to change the vote given by electronic means amounts to an unconstitutional infringement of the right to equality and the principle of uniform voting, it shall be necessary to weigh whether the intensity of the infringement, consisting in the different treatment of the voters using electronic voting channels upon electing the local government councils, is proportionally related to the weight of the aims pursued. 24. The principle of equal treatment in the context of electing representative bodies does not mean that absolutely equal possibilities for performing the voting act in equal manner should be guaranteed to all persons with the right to vote. In fact, those who use the different voting methods provided by law (advance polls, voting outside the polling division of residence, voting in custodial institutions, home voting, voting in a foreign state, etc) are in different situations. For example, the voters who have to use the possibility of advance polls, are in a situation different from that of the voters who can exercise their right to vote on the election day. The guarantee of absolute actual equality of persons upon exercising the right to vote is infeasible in principle and not required by the Constitution. 25. The decision to allow electronic voting at the elections of local government councils was taken by the Riigikogu upon passing the Local Government Council Election Act on 27 March 2002, with the aim of increasing the participation in elections, that is the democratic participation of people in making decisions pertaining to communal life. Bearing in mind the principle that elections shall be general, the aim is a legitimate one. Pursuant to the principle that elections shall be general all persons with the right to vote must be guaranteed a possibility to participate in voting. The measures the state takes for guaranteeing the possibility to vote to as many voters as possible are justified and advisable. 26. Another aim of allowing electronic voting is the modernising of voting practices, that is the introduction of new technological solutions. The ever growing number of Internet users among Estonia's inhabitants and the spread of services offered through electronic means (see TNS EMOR monitoring survey of 2005 http://www.riso.ee/et/?q=node/136 [1]), as well as the introduction of mandatory ID-card, have created favourable conditions for the introduction of electronic voting. Also, the preamble of "Standards of evoting", enumerating the aims of allowing e-voting, refers, inter alia, to facilitating the casting of the vote by the voter, increasing voter turnout by providing additional voting channels, bringing voting in line with new technologies and reducing, over time, the overall cost of conducting an election. Pursuant to this document the members states (of the Council of Europe) need to take account of the new information and communication technologies, which are increasingly being used in day-to-day life, in their democratic practice. The constitution does not prohibit the modernisation of electoral practices, and thus it is a legitimate justification of the infringement of the right to equality and principle of uniformity. 27. The Chamber is of the opinion that the introduction of electronic voting without allowing to change the vote given by electronic means may endanger the principles of free voting and secret voting.