President: Extraordinary elections no gambling matter
President Alar Karis for the first time commented on declaring extraordinary elections, telling Tartu Postimees in an interview that the likelihood remains modest this time.
"Extraordinary elections are not to be toyed with as it could develop into a habit. Their likelihood is modest this time," Karis said when asked by Tartu Postimees about the chances he'll declare them.
"If the president wished to favor a particular political party, such steps could be taken, while I'm not that kind of president," he added, suggesting that extraordinary elections would favor the ruling Reform Party.
The Reform Party, after ejecting recent coalition partner the Center Party's ministers from the government a month ago, is the only parliamentary force to have consistently called for extraordinary elections.
Constitutional law experts have suggested that the president would have to be convinced that the current composition of the Riigikogu cannot yield an effective government in order to declare extraordinary elections.
The Reform Party, Isamaa and the Social Democratic Party (SDE) are currently negotiating a new coalition for Estonia.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski
