Tallinn City Council is scheduled to convene for an extraordinary session at 10 a.m. on Sunday, April 14, at the third-floor meeting hall on Vana-Viru 12, the city council continued in its press release.

Sunday's agenda includes confirmation of the number and structure of the new governing coalition in the city, the appointment and dismissal of various city government members, and a vote of no confidence in city council deputy chair Marek Jürgenson (Center), in addition to the election of the new Tallinn mayor.

Under the regulations, a new city government in the capital must be appointed following a successful vote of no confidence against the previous mayor.

This happened on March 26, when a motion of no confidence in Mihhail Kõlvart (Center), mayor since 2019, narrowly passed at the city council, triggering the automatic dissolution of the Center-SDE coalition, in office since fall 2021.

Madle Lippus (SDE) was voted as acting mayor on a temporary basis at the same session which saw Kõlvart being voted out of office.

Coalition discussions involving the Reform Party, SDE, Eesti 200, and Isamaa has been ongoing since the last city government fell.

The Center Party and the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) would be in opposition if this alignment entered office in Tallinn.

SDE's leader in Tallinn, former government minister Jevgeni Ossinovski, has been widely tipped as the new mayor.

Isamaa and SDE still seemingly at loggerheads on voting rights matter

While the four parties engaged in coalition talks opted to call Sunday's meeting, Raigo Jahu, a spokesperson for the city council and party-mate of council chair Maris Sild (SDE) told ERR that the final version of the coalition agreement is not quite ready yet.

The four parties' decision-making bodies still need to approve the coalition agreement, though in any case this is likely to occur before Sunday's session, he added.

Isamaa chair Urmas Reinsalu announced Wednesday, too, that there had not yet been an agreement reached, adding: "There are several fundamental issues still open for discussion, both in terms of content and phrasing."

This was unusual, he said.

"It is customary to convene a session when a final agreement is in place. Currently, this is not the case," Reinsalu added, saying that this was the result of "pressure" SDE had put on itself, a pressure Isamaa was not feeling.

Should substantial solutions be lacking during the remaining negotiation time, a new date for the council session must be found, Reinsalu added.

Reform's lead negotiator Pärtel-Peeter Pere told Vikerraadio show "Vikerhommik" on Wednesday that the four parties had reached a mutual understanding late on Tuesday to convene the city council session given that a) 80-90 percent of the agreement is already in place and b) Sunday was a convenient time for all.

One of the issues between Isamaa and SDE was that of third-country nationals' voting rights, which the former wishes to strip and the latter is more lukewarm towards.

On this, Pere said: "I can't say whether he will give up this national issue here at the local municipality, in the City of Tallinn agreement. But what I can say is that the SDE faction is willing to discuss Isamaa's proposal to include a clause in that agreement."

The matter was also discussed at the national level at the Riigikogu on Tuesday.

Reform's Riigikogu chief whip Erkki Keldo acknowledged the importance of the issue and the need for discussion, but called such a discussion happening at local government level "absurd."

SDE has already noted that stripping third-country nationals' voting rights – a move which would be aimed at the tens of thousands of Russian and Belarusian nationals and also people of indeterminate citizenship resident in Estonia, both groups can vote in local elections – is a constitutional matter.

That the issue is being raised also needs to be seen in the context of the upcoming EU elections in June.

Isamaa's Tallinn City Council faction leader Karl Sander Kase told Raadio2's morning program on Wednesday that there is no agreement between the four parties yet, plus if consensus is not reached by Sunday, a new city government and the mayor cannot be elected.

"There are many substantive issues" still open, he added.

The SDE city council Chair Maris Sild sent out the invitation to the off-schedule Sunday session on Tuesday evening, before an agreement was reached.

"SDE put themselves under time pressure, and now we have a few days to reach an agreement," Kase said, echoing statements made by his party's leader.

Kase noted the voting rights issue as one of these substantive matters.

Reform, SDE and Eesti 200 had already pledged to do this in their national coalition agreement signed nearly a year ago, and Isamaa, in opposition at the Riigikogu, was simply holding them to this, Kase added, noting that the agreement expressly stated the Constitution would not be amended for the policy to be installed.

Within SDE itself, there are differing opinions, Kase added; Health Minister Riina Sikkut has said she supports revoking the voting rights of Russian and Belarusian citizens, even as that is not the official party line, while party leader and Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets expressed a diametrically opposing view on the issue on Tuesday.

Editor's note: This article was updated to include comment from Raigo Jahu, Urmas Reinsalu, Pärtel-Peeter Pere and Karl Sander Kase.

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