Reform Party Internal Election Results Finalized After 6 Months of Court Battles
Harju County Court registered the new leadership of the Reform Party on Thursday after months of debate over the legality of its voting procedures.
The initial vote, in which party members were allowed to vote by email, took place in May, but attempts by the party to register the new leadership in the nation's e-Business Register were rejected by judges, who decided that electronic voting could not be used in the internal elections of NGOs.
That vote also spun a scandal, with the party's leadership accusing MEP Kristiina Ojuland of rigging a number of ballots. Ojuland denied the accusation, made by a regional development director of the party, but was found guilty by an internal investigation and ejected from the organization.
Many, including coalition partner IRL, criticized the party for a lack of internal democracy and called for new elections.
Party Chairman Andrus Ansip told ERR radio on Friday that critics, not the party, had something to learn from the case as the courts eventually found that an NGO may itself decide how it elects its board.