Isamaa Right-wingers founder: We want to bring back members who have left
The founders of Isamaa's association "Parempoolsed" (Right-wingers) want to bring back members who left the party and involve people who have been avoiding the party, the initiator of the union Tõnis Kons told daily newspaper Postimees on Monday.
"There are 8000 members in the party and only a couple hundred of them are active. Too many good and reasonable people have left the party. We wish to bring them back and involve the ones that have been avoiding the party," Kons told the newspaper.
"Of course, there are people in Isamaa who do not approve of the idea and getting them on board is complicated. I hope that during the next big assembly of the party, there will have strong competition for the chairman position and a candidate from the Parempoolsed runs as well."
The general meeting of the union will take place in September and the board will be elected there.
Kons himself doesn't want to participate in executive politics and wants to remain in the private sector although there are fewer frameworks there when it comes to talking about these subjects.
Among other things, the association supports Western values, "smart" managed migration, simple and low taxes, an open economy and pushing forward with innovation and change.
The founders of the association believe that classical right-wing attitudes are declining in Estonia as the opposition Reform Party has given up on its right-wing views and new parties hold either left-wing or extreme populist positions. Isamaa must provide an alternative to this and bring together right-wing voters, they said
Who are the right-wingers?
In July, more than 100 members of the Isamaa coalition party announced the founding of the association with a manifesto titled "The right-wing choice for Estonia" where they promise to stand up for Western values and right-wing opinions but against extremists in Estonian politics.
The manifesto has been signed by 111 people and the full list and text of the manifesto in Estonian can be read here.
The activity of the union is coordinated by seven people including the member of Riigikogu Siim Kiisler, member of the Tallinn city council Kaido Kukk and others, Tõnis Kons previously turned the political union Res Publica into a party which later joined with Isamaa.
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Editor: Roberta Vaino
