Ansip: Electors should be free to vote their conscience
Commenting on the upcoming presidential election, former prime minister and current European Commissioner for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip said that it would be best for the country if all parties let their electors vote their conscience.
Ansip said in an interview with daily Eesti Päevaleht published on Thursday that in such a case, the electors shouldn’t be expected to toe the party line, but be allowed to vote for the candidate they considered best suited.
As former chairman of the Reform Party, Ansip said he didn’t see a reason to criticize his party for considering two candidates for such a long time leading up to the elections.
“Right now we can still see that the two most popular candidates are those that have been connected with the Reform Party,” Ansip said, adding that Kaljurand’s candidacy had clearly divided the party in the matter. He also pointed out that the other parties’ candidates were far behind, with the support of only 4-6% of the population.
“Would it have been reasonable to say right at the beginning that we only have one we want to elect, and the only choice of the others would have been to support our candidate? I don’t think that would have been right,” Ansip said.
Ansip is of the opinion that the next president doesn’t have to come from the Reform Party.
“I’ve repeatedly said that the Reform Party has no special claim to the presidency, as the Reform Party doesn’t have enough support in Estonia to demand such a thing,” Ansip added.
Editor: Editor: Dario Cavegn