Randpere: Last Tallinn Election Was Determined by Bronze Night Unrest
Reform Party's freshly chosen candidate for Tallinn mayor, Valdo Randpere, has said that the Center Party won the city's local elections four years ago thanks to the 2007 Bronze Night unrest, which galvanized Russian-speaking voters.
“That event bought the Center Party a majority they had never previously achieved, and I don't believe they will again,” Randpere said in an interview with Eesti Päevaleht today.
Randpere said Reform is not expecting an all-out win against the Center Party, who recent polls show have just below 50 percent of support in Tallinn.
The MP said they are gunning for second place, and could forge a coalition with IRL and the Social Democrats, with the most successful of the three naming the next mayor.
The Center Party currently has 44 out of the 79 seats in the Tallinn City Council. The Reform Party has 14 seats, IRL 13 and the Social Democrats eight.
According to a poll taken by TNS Emor at the end of July, the Center Party is backed by 46 percent of voters in the the capital, followed by IRL with 14 percent, the Reform Party with 13 percent and the Social Democrats with 9 percent.