Seeder: Isamaa will not become liberal party under my leadership

Chairman of the Isamaa party Helir-Valdor Seeder said told Vikerraadio program "Uudis+" that under his leadership, he would not allow the Isamaa to form a liberal party under the right-wing label.
Seeder said: "If we want to transform the Isamaa party into a liberal party instead of a conservative one, this will be unacceptable as I am the chairman of the party. Isamaa is and will be a conservative party."
He added: "I do not see the slightest reason why another party with liberal values should emerge in the Estonian political landscape."
According to Seeder, there is a lack of conservative parties in Estonia.
Seeder commented: "We have two conservative parties here in Estonia. EKRE, whose it is difficult to call a conservative party as they pursue much more of a radical extremist policy. And then there is Isamaa, which in its long history it has consistently been and will continue to pursue a moderate and balanced national-conservative policy."
Seeder said the right-wing manifesto focuses more on emphasizing the right political views, but there are some aspects which can be interpreted differently.
Seeder explained: "We have to make things clear about the views at our party. Such as what the real ambitions are."
Seeder confirmed that Isamaa has been a right-wing party and will always be. He added: "Under my leadership, there is certainly no reason for members of Isamaa to worry the party is a left-wing party. Although, we shouldn't propagate the right-wing views to everybody as we want to stay modest and defend our views. We need to take the message outside the party as Estonia's political landscape is leaning to the left. It seems like Isamaa is the only party today that actually implements right-wing politics."
Seeder noted that Isamaa is not going to support the Registered Partnership Act. They will go out with full support on a referendum as they want to define the concept of family.
Seeder said: "These values have been thoroughly discussed in our party, in the presidency, in the council and in the general assembly. There is no place or change in our views as we stick to the right-wing views."
Yesterday, 111 members of Isamaa announced they had created a new association within the party to standup for right-wing politics. But leading members refused to criticise Seeder or say the party had moved towards the center.
Among other things, the association said it supports Western values, "smart" managed migration, simple and low taxes, an open economy and pushing forward with innovation and change.
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Editor: Katriin Eikin Sein