Ansip Would Not Run in New Internal Elections
Reform Party Chairman and Prime Minister Andrus Ansip has said he will not stand for his current position if the party were to hold a repeat of its internal elections.
Speaking at the Cabinet's Thursday press conference, Ansip said he promised last year that his current term as Prime Minister would be his last, adding that he told the party congress in May that he will not be running for the party chairman position again.
“When I said at the congress at the gymnasium of the University of Life Sciences that I will not run again, I did not think that some people would want to repeat the election. My word has been given and will be kept. I did not mean it that way, but if that road is chosen, I will not stand again,” Ansip said.
Ansip's comments come after the Reform Party admitted last week that fraud had taken place in the party's internal leadership election in May. The party has since been mulling whether new elections are necessary, with opponents of the idea pointing out that a very small percentage of votes were affected.
Ansip said he does not believe a new congress should be called for a repeat election, as the people who participated fairly the first time around would suffer.