Savisaar Officially Re-Confirmed as Mayor of Tallinn
As most experts predicted before last month's municipal elections, current mayor and Center Party leader Edgar Savisaar has been officially confirmed as the 'next' mayor of Tallinn, receiving 46 votes from the 79-seat city council, which also voted to keep the same government.
Opposition councilmen asked to be allowed to question Savisaar before the vote, but were rebuffed, ETV reported on Thursday.
IRL's Eerik-Niiles Kross, who led the campaign to topple Savisaar in the local elections, said that he had expected at least a pretense of democracy, but that the ban on questions was comically tragic.
Taavi Aas, Kalle Klandorf, Mihhail Kõlvart, Merike Martinson, Arvo Sarapuu and Eha Võrk, all Center Party members, will all continue to serve on the city's government.
The Center Party increased its majority in the city council elections by two seats to reach 46. IRL won 16 seats (13 in 2009), the Reform Party nine (14) and the Social Democrats eight (8).
The Center Party and the Social Democrats formed a coalition, despite the Center Party's majority, after the 2009 elections. That union lasted a year before the minority partner left in protest over a scandal involving Savisaar's Russian funding ties.