Kudre, who ran with the Ühine Setomaa electoral alliance, stressed cooperation and activity across the 156 Seto villages in the municipality.

"The bedrock of the Setomaa municipality lies in Seto culture and its preservation, including traditional education, Seto language kindergarten and cultural events. The healthy image of Setomaa must continue to be presented to the outside world, and consolidated," he said.

Setomaa, a historic region rather than an administrative division largely within Võru County abuts on to Estonia's southeastern border with the Russian Federation, and also straddles both sides of the frontier – which prior to World War Two was somewhat east of its current position and incorporated the town of Petseri.

The border itself has been in media focus in recent days due to the installation of long stretches of razor wire in areas where no border cordon is currently present, amid fears of the migrant crisis on Poland and Lithuania's borders playing out on Estonia's also.

Kudre was the only candidate running at Wednesday's election in Värska, and obtained 10 votes in favor and none against, on the 15-member council.

Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) deputies had left blank ballot sheets, ERR reports.

Kudre's salary was set at the meeting also, as were standing council committees and their chairs.

The local elections took place over a month ago, on October 17, and councils have from this week been obliged to start their work, meaning coalition negotiations have been more-or-less squared away.

However, in some cases municipal mayors have not been determined – councils can still function since they are overseen by the council chair – and may not be until year-end.

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