Lippus, who was recently elected head of the Social Democratic Party's (SDE) Tallinn branch, said that her being the only candidate was not a conscious decision and that she would have liked to see competition. "But I suppose everyone was okay with my candidacy," she remarked.

She also admitted that being the head of the regional branch would make her a likely mayoral candidate for SDE but added that her first priority is to create a vision of how Tallinn should develop into a Nordic capital.

Several Center Party members have quit its ranks in recent weeks and months, which has prompted calls for SDE to ditch Center also in Tallinn in favor of a broad-based coalition. ERR asked Lippus whether the Tallinn opposition has turned to her with such proposals?

Lippus said that no concrete proposals have been made and that SDE's coalition with Center stands for the time being. "We are pursuing good cooperation, our program matters to us and we have an ambitious budget." She mentioned building new kindergartens, laying down new tram tracks, developing bicycle infrastructure and rendering Tallinn traffic safer in general as reasons why SDE would rather not dismantle the coalition.

In terms of whether SDE could ask its partner for more as a result of its city council group growing at Center's expense, Lippus said there is currently no such plan.

Finally, when asked whether the parties making up the Tallinn City Council coming together to offer SDE the mayor's seat would motivate the Social Democrats to change their minds, Lippus said that such a proposal would have to be discussed but added that there is currently no indication of something like that being in the works. "The Tallinn opposition has hardly come across united until now, if only as concerns electing the second vice chairman, which has still not been agreed," she pointed out.

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