Ossinovski: Social Democrats Were Played in Tallinn
Social Democratic MP Jevgeni Ossinovski, fresh from increasing his party's seats in Narva from zero to eleven, said that his party threw in the towel in the battle for the Russian-speaking vote in Tallinn after agreeing to join forces with IRL and the Reform Party.
“People from both sides tried to play us in Tallinn, and I believe to a great extent they succeeded,” Ossinovski told Eesti Päevaleht today.
He said that when his party's candidate for the top spot in Tallinn, Andres Anvelt, agreed on live television to form a coalition with the two Cabinet parties, the Center Party began a campaign of intimidating Russian-speaking voters, saying that they will be repressed by the three parties if they vote against the Center Party.
Ossinovski said that most services in Tallinn still function as normal, with kindergartens the exception; the situation must deteriorate greatly if residents were to be mobilized to vote against the current city government.
The Social Democrats increased their share of the votes in Tallinn from 9.83 to 9.92 percent, claiming the exact same number of seats as four years ago. The Reform Party lost five seats (now nine) compared with 2009, with two taken over by the ruling Center Party (46) and three by IRL (16).