Jõgeva councilors file no-confidence motion in chair Aivar Kokk
Opposition councilors on Jõgeva rural municipality have filed a no-confidence motion in council chair Aivar Kokk (Isamaa), regional daily Tartu Postimees reported on Monday, citing a lack of clarity about budget issues and interference with rural municipality officials' work. Kokk is also an MP and is chair of the Riigikogu's Finance Committee
Former rural municipality Aare Olgo (Center), who handed over the motion of censure in May, told the daily (link in Estonian) that Kokk, who became chair of the Jõgeva rural municipality in May: "Is a man like an orchestra, he wants to conduct, and at the same time play the first violin and beat another drum," who: "expresses great ideas and plans in both the rural municipality's newspaper and the local newspaper, but if we study at the council session where this money is coming from, there are no clear answers."
Olgo gave examples of former plans for renovating a sports hall in the central Estonian town, at a projected cost of several million euros, only for this to have fallen by the wayside and been replaced by plans to construct a speed skating rink there, and also said that Kokk, who became council chair in May in what they describe as a coup d'etat, had not familiarized himself with the municipality's statutes.
Kokk himself was sanguine about the news, saying that it is standard practice for opposition politicians to issue such motions.
The council will vote on the no-confidence motion, signed by 11 of the 27 councilors and thus unlikely to pass, on August 27.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte