The motion was signed by 39 members of the council and handed over at the council meeting this afternoon. There are 79 members and 40 votes would be needed for it to be successful.

Ossinovski was elected just four days ago, but it took three rounds of voting to win a majority.

Chairman of Center's council faction Kalle Klandorf said rules over voting secrecy were broken on Sunday.

"The third round of voting in the mayoral election was not a secret ballot, as the four political groups used a code in the ballot to identify whether their members had voted as agreed," Klandorf said.

He said opposition members do not believe Ossinovski should continue as mayor.

Center called for the ballots to be rechecked yesterday.

"Elections must be free, which means that people must be able to vote according to their own free will, without pressure or obstacles. Elections must be secret and the voter must be able to exercise a free mandate. The evidence of a violation of these principles is clear, obvious and irrefutable. Examination of the ballot papers for the third round reveals that the four parties in the ruling coalition have used ballot paper marking to identify how members of their political groups vote. In this way, the possibility was created to influence the members during the intervals between ballots," Klandorf said.

"With each round, the number of votes was different, suggesting that members were influenced and pressured. If a fourth round had been held, it would have been possible to identify those who did not vote for mayoral candidate Jevgeni Ossinovski. There are several reports and evidence that members also took pictures of their ballot papers during Sunday's vote," he said.

Klandorf also pointed out that in 2023 the electoral commission said taking a photo of the ballot and sharing breaks the rules.

Representatives of the new coalition told ERR on Wednesday that there had been discussions about such a system, but it was not implemented.

Background: Center out of power for first time in decades

Last week, 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.

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