The law is clear on this: if a member of a municipal council moves elsewhere, they will lose their mandate as a representative of the people in their previous place of residence, the paper noted, adding that such an individual's removal from the municipal council is not temporary, but final.

"It was an honest mistake," Jufereva-Skuratovski said, commenting on what happened. "It wasn't possible to reverse it anymore, as the entry had already appeared in the register. Tough break."

Next in line to join Tallinn City Council is Jevgenija Kukk (Center). Should she relinquish the mandate, the following two in line are Helle Kalda and Natalia Timofejeva, both of whom are likewise members of the Center Party.

Jufereva-Skuratovski's snafu is a critical one in the Estonian capital's power struggle, Eesti Express noted.

"The opposition lived for several months with the awareness that at the end of March, ex-Centrist, now Social Democrat Andre Hanimägi would be returning to Tallinn City Council," the paper said, noting that with that, the Reform Party, the Social Democratic Party (SDE) and Eesti 200 would have between them held a combined 40 mandates to the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) and Center's 39.

"Now, however, the scales have tipped in the opposite direction instead – the Center Party and EKRE have 40 mandates between them, and the potential quadripartite coalition, on the other hand, just 39," it continued. "In other words, any thoughts about a city government without EKRE and the Center Party can be shelved for a while."

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