Center Party Will Find it Hard to Reach 51% of Local Council Seats in Tallinn, Says Expert
University of Tartu political scientist Rein Toomla said that the Center Party has a long way to go if it wants to hold on to last local election's absolute majority in the capital.
Speaking on ETV on Thursday, Toomla said that the Center Party is likely to win the most seats on the Tallinn city council, but a recent poll by Emor showed that the mayor's party would receive only 35 percent of the votes - good enough only for a plurality of seats.
Toomla said that the name of the mayor will depend on the margin of Center's victory in October.
“If it is below the absolute majority, then a very interesting situation arises, as the opposition has clearly stated that they are running foremost against [mayor] Edgar Savisaar. The rivals are the other three parties [in the city council], but their relations with each other are not the best. The fact that the Reform Party and IRL get along is not news, nor is it a surprise, but it is hard to predict how the Social Democrats fit into the equation,” said Toomla.
Should they fail to win over 50 percent, the Center Party could end up parnered with one of the three parties, probably the Social Democrats, but possibly also the Reform Party, said Toomla, adding that IRL would be the least likely partner for Savisaar.
The Center Party currently has 44 seats in the city's council, the Reform Party has 14, IRL 13 and the Social Democrats only eight.
The next local elections are set to take place October 20.