SDE board member: We failed in Tallinn and Tartu

Social Democratic Party (SDE) board member Riina Sikkut admitted that the party failed in two of Estonia's largest cities in the local government elections last week.
"We failed in Tallinn and Tartu," Sikkut said on ETV's morning show "Terevisioon" on Tuesday. "There were some things we likely did wrong. We must now make changes."
She admitted that the party's mayoral candidate in Tallinn Raimond Kaljulaid got far fewer votes than expected.
Responding to a question about a possible change in party leadership, Sikkut noted that a selection process will come soon either way. "We will make changes all over," she announced.
The former health minister did not rule out joining Center Party for a coalition in Tallinn and also expressed hope that Center, lacking two seats for an absolute majority for city council, is unable to attract members of other parties to join their ranks to avoid creating a coalition. "I hope such moves are a thing of the past," she said.
"I hope a coalition is created and a working partnership develops to make it possible to make changes to Tallinn's development," Sikkut said.
The SDE board member said coalition negotiations in Tallinn should progress this week.
Center won 45.2 percent of the votes and 38 seats of the 79-member city council. Reform won 15 council seats, EKRE won eight, Eesti 200 won seven seats, the Social Democratic Party won six and Isamaa five seats.
This is the first time in four election cycles that Center has not taken at least 40 seats, or the absolute majority and will now need to create a coalition to take power.
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Editor: Kristjan Kallaste