Herkel: no rush to complete coalition talks
Free Party Chairman Andres Herkel said a quick solution to coalition negotiations is not in his party's interests and the Free Party must first find an internal consensus.
After Reform Party head Taavi Rõivas invited the Social Democrats, IRL and the Free Party for talks on forming a broad-based coalition, Herkel said his party is split on the question whether to join the coalition or not.
“It is well-known how they (coalition talks) have developed previously in Estonian politics, and how the coalitions have fared. To some extent, this makes us cautious,” he said.
After the 2007 election, which the Reform Party won, talks were opened between the Reform Party, IRL, the Social Democrats and the Greens, only for the Greens to drop out at the last hurdle.
Social Democrats Chairman Sven Mikser said three parties would be enough, as a three-way coalition without IRL would still have a majority in the Parliament.
“I am not cranky, but of course we want to do things in a social democratic way, and in a coalition where right-wing parties would have 51 or more seats I do not see a way Social Democrats can forward the social democratic cause,” he said.
The Reform Party won 30 seats, giving it the first right to form a new government, but since neither of its two previous partners, the Social Democrats (15 seats) and IRL (14 seats) managed to make gains, a third partner is needed. Rõivas has said that the nation needs a broad-based government to tackle the new security reality.
Editor: J.M. Laats