Ojuland: Forged Votes Went to Ansip
Kristiina Ojuland, who was ejected from the Reform Party over internal voting fraud, told ETV more than a year after the incident that the then PM and party head Andrus Ansip's name was on the forged voting slips.
She told ETV's “Pealtnägija” on Wednesday that whoever the person was who forged the votes, voted for Ansip.
“The Reform Party has such documents which say who voted for whom at internal elections for the party chairman,” Ojuland said, adding that she also has the documents, although chose not to elaborate.
“I will admit it once more, having been in politics for many years I was naïve and trusted and believed my development head, who was working in Lääne-Viru County at the time and with whom I had many years of successful work behind. I think it was a trap to expel me [...]” she said.
Ojuland said she would have paid the membership fees of the around 30 elder party members in any case. The forged votes were cast by email on behalf of these members, who later said they did not vote at all.
“The votes were forged, but I had no part in it,” she said, adding that she did not need the votes.
Ansip was named one of six European Commission vice-presidents on September 10. He was also named the Digital Single Market Commissioner. He received more than 45,000 votes in the European Parliament elections in May, the largest vote total for any candidate who ran in Estonia. The Reform Party has not announced a replacement as yet for his seat in the European Parliament.
Speaking about her new political venture, the Party of People's Unity, Ojuland said the party has been officially registered and will run at the 2015 parliamentary elections.
She said the party has more than 500 members, the number required to set up a new political party, and they have began building a nationwide organization with regional offices.
The 500 current members are all friends or acquaintances, she said, people who can be trusted. “To begin such a huge task the people (members) have to be familiar. The members must be trustworthy and you can't just recruit people off the street.”