On Sunday, the new ruling coalition (Reform Party, Eesti 200, Isamaa and SDE) required three rounds of voting before Jevgeni Ossinovski (SDE) was finally appointed as mayor. In the first round, of the 40 ballots, two were invalid, and in the second round, one was invalid. At least 40 votes were needed to elect the mayor.

In the third round, the ruling coalition secured 41 votes, with an additional affirmative vote from Urmo Saareoja, a member of the Center Party group who attended the third voting session.

However, on Wednesday, members of the Center Party, together with city officials, reviewed the ballots again and discovered a pattern on the ballots of the third round that suggested the ballots (shown above and below) were deliberately marked, thus potentially violating the secrecy of the vote.

Marek Jürgenson, a member of the Center Party group and deputy chairman of the city council, told ERR that each party in the ruling coalition had been assigned a corner on the "for" box of the ballot (top left, bottom left, top right, bottom right), and this observation was confirmed upon checking the votes.

Technically, the ballots were not tampered with, but Jürgenson raised concerns about whether such behavior ensured the secrecy of the vote.

No such systematic pattern was observed on the ballots of the first two rounds. However, before the third round, the coalition parties took a longer break, and it was then that such a method of marking the ballots was agreed upon, added Jürgenson.

Kovalenko-Kõlvart: It would be fair to organize a new vote

Anastassia Kovalenko-Kõlvart (Center) said that it would be fair to organize a new vote. But the party will wait for Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise's assessment.

"Another question is if people were forced to put the crosses in certain corners like this, could there have been methods of retaliation, or for what reason were people having to vote in this way?" she said.

"Now we see that there really were definite patterns of how somebody was supposed to put their cross in the box, it shows that there is a possibility that there was pressure and people were influenced," the council member added.

Jürgenson said that the Center Party faction would decide on Thursday, before the city council session, whether to approach Madise, to seek clarification on the legality of using such codes in a secret ballot.

Helve Särgava (Center), who led the work of the voting committee on Sunday, which included five members from different factions, outlined the process to ERR. However, she said she could not say anything about the marking allegations.

Särgava said there were two invalid ballots in the first round. On one, both boxes were empty, on the other they were both marked.

The mayor is elected by secret ballot and each member must mark the "for" or "against" box on a paper ballot.

Eesti 200: Discussed briefly

Eesti 200 faction chair Joel Jesse told ERR that marking specific corners of the boxes had been discussed, but in the end, each voter decided how to mark their ballot.

"This in no way leads to being able to identify how someone voted afterward," he said.

Jesse said he does not understand how an argument can be made that the election procedure was violated.

"Even if such a thing has been discussed, in the end, everyone puts their cross where they want it to be, and that in no way leads to being able to say that that person voted that way," he said.

SDE: There was no coercion

Maris Sild, chairman of SDE's faction, said, first of all, it was strange how Jürgenson suddenly demanded to see the ballots.

She said usually these types of procedures are carried out in front of representatives from all political parties. "And there was no protest at the sitting [on Sunday], when it was time to protest. Tallinn City Council's rules say that if there are any protests about the vote, they must be lodged immediately," Sild said.

The chairman said Center members were able to check the ballots on Wednesday and make sure that everything was correct. She also believes no rules were broken.

"I do not believe so, because by checking it, the Centre Party members were also able to make sure that there were 41 votes in favor, the crosses were made inside the box, not outside. There is in fact no irregularity and all MEPs were free to cast their votes," she said.

"I confirm that all members in our faction have free will, everyone can make their own decisions, and there was no coercion," Sild added.

Ballots kept for over a month

Tallinn City Council office told ERR the ballots from Sunday's vote are kept in a locked cabinet in a locked room.

According to the law, ballots must be retained for at least a month.

However, as a rule, Tallinn keeps hold of the voting slips for a little longer just in case, the city said.

Background: Center out of power for first time in decades

The new four-party coalition (Reform Party, Eesti 200, Isamaa and SDE) replaced the former Center-SDE coalition which had been in power since 2021.

This is the first time in almost 20 years that Center has not been in power in Tallinn.

Former Mayor Mihhail Kõlvart (Center) lost a vote of no confidence last month, after which SDE left the coalition.

Center is now in opposition alongside EKRE.

Kõlvart said earlier this week that the new coalition did not start in a "transparent, democratic, or European" way pointing to the three votes it took to elect Jevgeni Ossinovski as mayor.

This article was updated to add comments from Helve Särgava, photographs of the ballots, and more context about the voting procedure. Then again to add comments from Maris Sild, Joel Jesse, and Anastassia Kovalenko-Kõlvart.

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