Kõlvart in favor of convening Center congress in the near future
Center Party deputy head, Mayor of Tallinn Mihhail Kõlvart said he is in favor of the proposal of convening the party's congress sooner rather than later to discuss Center's failure at Riigikogu elections. The party's regular congress was scheduled for middle of 2024.
"I believe that if such signals are coming from the party, we need to support them, whereas I see no problem here. Rather, I believe the party needs it, for the members to come together, discuss the situation and decide together how to move forward," Kõlvart told ERR.
"While analysis is necessary, it does not have to come in the form of looking for culprits and thinking of ways to punish them. Whatever the decision, I believe unity is the most important thing. Should there be changes in management – I feel the expectation is there in the party, while I do not think it needs to be overdramatized.
Commenting on the success of the candidates of the United Left Party and the Koos movement in Ida-Viru County, Kõlvart suggested it is a problem not just for Russian Center members but the party as a whole.
"I believe that we will first need to analyze our own potential mistakes in finding too little support. It is always easiest to blame problems on the competition, while work one has failed to do also needs to be acknowledged."
"I believe it is a general problem for the party, which elections also demonstrated, that we failed to explain to voters our main goals and values, what we stand for and who we would like to work with. And that is not a matter of Russian-speaking voters, it is a question of Center voters in general – what kind of a Center Party they should support. I believe we failed to answer that question clearly before the elections. That is the problem," Kõlvart said.
Commenting on ERR's information according to which Tallinn deputy mayors Tanel Kiik and Vadim Belobrovtsev and Mustamäe City District Elder Lauri Laats will likely leave the city government system for the Riigikogu, the mayor said he will let them comment on any decisions. Kõlvart added that he was prepared for possibly having to renew his team in the aftermath of the elections.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski