Jüri Ratas, former leader of the Estonian opposition Center Party, member of the party's governing board and current deputy speaker of the Estonian parliament, announced at a press conference on Monday that he has quit the Center Party and is joining another opposition party, Isamaa.
If you ask Kaja Kallas (RE) or Jüri Ratas (KE) about human relations in politics, both will answer that they are important. Politicians are not just "Excel calculators" who count votes with cold rationality and make decisions based on that. Interpersonal chemistry matters as well.
While Prime Minister Kaja Kallas (Reform) remains firmly in first place in a recent leadership poll, Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) leader Martin Helme has caught up with Center's leader, Jüri Ratas, and there is now nothing to choose between the two, daily Eesti Päevaleht (EPL) reports.