Eesti 200, Isamaa and Reform announce Tallinn city government candidates

Three of the four parties involved in Tallinn coalition talks have revealed their candidates for positions within the new government in the capital.
Eesti 200, Isamaa and the Reform Party have announced their candidates and, while the Social Democratic Party (SDE), also in the talks, has not done so, by process of elimination it appears likely that the party will retain the mayoral post.
On Saturday, Eesti 200 held a Tallinn district extended board meeting which confirmed Aleksei Jašin as deputy mayoral candidate for the education area, and Margot Roose for the post of deputy mayor with the entrepreneurship portfolio.
Jašin said that one of the emerging coalition's biggest challenges will be transitioning to education in the capital in the Estonian language only.
Jašin said: "The transition to Estonian-language education will affect the quality of education, our sense of community cohesion, and our security."
"Although the timing is crucial, bearing in mind that the Ministry of Education at the national level is also held by Eesti 200, I believe that we can achieve our goals in good cooperation with it," Jašin went on.
Jašin also highlighted what he called a pressing issue of a lack of places at kindergartens and at primary schools. "We need to start drafting a new educational development plan, and to reform the network of schools."
"It is crucial to consider demographic developments and urban planning, when constructing new educational institutions," he continued.
Margot Roose, provisional deputy mayor for entrepreneurship, stressed the importance of fostering dialogue between the city and business.
She said: "As the largest municipality in Estonia, our city is a driving force of the national economy. It's important to look at the entrepreneurial environment we offer our businesses."
"We need to consider what measures could help preserve and create new jobs in the capital. Supporting startup entrepreneurship and attracting bright minds who would stay and contribute to economic development is crucial," Roose said.
"Undoubtedly, fostering innovation and creating a better growth environment for it, supporting it comprehensively, offering new solutions to the city itself, and thereby creating a more fertile business environment," she added.
Roose earned her master's degree in Business Administration and Marketing, from the University of Liverpool, England, and is an advisor on the green economy to the Dutch embassy in the Baltic states, and to Finland, an expert on the circular economy, an advisor to green technology companies, and an investor.
Aleksei Jašin holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Tartu, has been an education expert at the NGO Mondo, and is currently an advisor to the Minister of Economic Affairs and Information Technology Tiit Riisalo (Eesti 200), as well as having worked as a teacher.
Isamaa's lead negotiator and chair of its Tallinn district, Riina Solman, chair of the Isamaa Tallinn district, told ETV news show "Aktuaalne kaamera" (AK) that her party has secured two deputy mayor posts as well.
The Isamaa Tallinn district board opted to nominate Kristjan Järvan, a former IT minister, as deputy mayor of transport, and Karl Sander Kase, the party's Tallinn city council chief whip, as deputy mayor of social affairs.
Solman said that Isamaa would also fill the district elder positions in Mustamäe and Haabersti, with two woman politicians from the party, though was unable to state their names.
Solman herself is to continue to lead the Isamaa Tallinn district board and to continue as a Tallinn city councilor and a Riigikogu MP, she said.
Solman noted that the Isamaa board approved the coalition agreement only reluctantly.
She said: "There were contentious points as there are four coalition parties, and getting wording that suits everyone is not easy."
"For example, we argued a lot about the transition to Estonian-language education and how we should treat the principle of a unified school. Isamaa is completely against homogenizing, of putting all children into one school," she noted.
"This would put Estonian-speaking children at a disadvantage. However, it is certainly necessary to provide higher support and more resources to Russian-speaking children, to help them achieve a higher level of Estonian proficiency," Solman added.
The Reform Party had held its board meeting on Friday evening and decided on its city government delegation then
The party's Tallinn chair, Pärtel-Peeter Pere, said current Reform Party spokesperson and member of the Tallinn City Council Sander Andla will be council chair, in other words speaker of the legislature.
Pere himself is a candidate for deputy mayor, with the environmental and utility portfolio, while Viljar Jaamu is aösp a deüuty ,ayoral candidate, with the responsibility of city property.
Pere also said that Doris Raudsepp will be district elder of Kesklinn (City Center); Ülle Rajasalu of the Pirita district, both from Reform.
SDE's board is meeting at 6 p.m. today, and the expectation is that the party will secure the mayoral position.
Since previous mayor Mihhail Kõlvart was voted out of office in late March, SDE's Madle Lippus has been acting mayor, and hers is the only name other than that of the party's Tallinn chair, Jevgeni Ossinovski, which has been publicly mentioned in connection with the post.
Tallinn city council convenes on Sunday on an extraordinary basis, when the new mayor, deputies, district elders, council chair and other positions will be voted on, as well as voting on the coalition entering office itself.
On March 26, 41 deputies at the 79-seat Tallinn City Council voted in favor of a no-confidence motion brought against Mihhail Kõlvart (Center) as mayor, bringing to an end nearly two decades of hegemony in the capital for the Center Party.
Since late 2021, Center had been in a coalition with SDE, which left that coalition the day before the vote.
On the last day of March, SDE joined Reform, Isamaa and Eesti 200 in coalition talks, whose final sticking point had been third country nationals' voting rights.
There are eight sub-districts in Tallinn, each of them with an elder (Vanavallem) and district government presiding, while the number of deputy mayors is not set in stone.
Riigikogu MPs may also sit on Tallinn council, or any other municipal council in Estonia, and around half of them do.
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Editor: Aleksander Krjukov, Andrew Whyte