The two largest political parties in terms of Riigikogu representation, the Reform Party and the Center Party are to start coalition negotiations, both parties say.
Reform decided Thursday to commence talks with Center, with party leader Kaja Kallas and MPs Keit Pentus-Rosimannus, Mart Võrklaev and Gerrit Mäesalu making up the negotiation delegation.
Kallas said: The conversations held yesterday led to an understanding that the Reform Party and the Center Party could be able to form a functional government. I am very pleased that the two largest parties in the Riigikogu have decided to form the government. The new government is to take office at a very difficult time. We are in the middle of a coronavirus crisis and we need to move forward fast in order to safeguard the lives and health of Estonian people while also keeping our economy going. Estonia cannot afford a political deadlock right now. I feel it is my political responsibility that the recent social tension should be
As expected, Katri Raik (SDE) has been elected mayor of the eastern Estonian town of Narva.
Raik, a former interior minister, received 18 votes to former mayor Aleksei Jevgarov s 11, ending a power vacuum which has existed at the Narva city council chambers since mid-November, when Jevgarov was removed after a vote of no-confidence, and city council chair Irina Janovitš also resigned. Much of the political in-fighting in Narva revolved around the Center Party and a breakaway local group; Raik is a member of the Social Democratic Party (SDE).
Raik s appointment requires two replacements, one for her Riigikogu seat, which she applied to vacate Tuesday, and one for her previous city council seat.
Members of the Center Party s Narva branch have issued a statement hitting out at regional leader Yana Toom, and what they say are unfair practices in admitting new members to the party. The statement comes as several councilors who had been part of a breakaway political faction in the eastern border town now want to join Center. Toom says signatures on the document have been falsified.
In an address to the party s board, the six members, including former Narva Mayor Tarmo Tammiste, set out their outrage about, and opposition towards, the practise of admission of new party members without getting the consent of the board first, regional daily Põhjarannik writes (link in Estonian), blame for which they put fairly and squarely at the feet of Yana Toom, and also Allen Allet, coordinator of Center s Ida-Viru County branch.
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Thousands of motions to amend the oppositions has vowed to file before the second reading of the marriage referendum bill would paralyze state administration and would not constitute statesmanlike conduct, Jaanus Karilaid, deputy chairman of the ruling Center Party, said on the Otse uudistemajast webcast.
Karilaid said that first it is necessary to wait until December 30 by which all motions to amend need to be in. Next, we need to group them and see how many we can overlook on grounds of similarity, the politician said. If that fails, there will be a deadlock and need to think about what to do next, he explained.