At a meeting of it's executive board on Tuesday, the Reform Party moved to expel Aivar Viidik. Viidik, who is a former Riigikogu MP and Hiumaa Municipal Council Chair, was expelled based on the proposal of the party's Hiiumaa regional branch.

"The board of the Hiiumaa region of the Reform Party decided in secret to dismiss me from my position as head of the Kärdla district. There was zero communication with me on the matter. This style is absolutely bizarre to me," Viidik told ERR.

Evelin Lehtsaar, the leader of the Reform Party's Hiiumaa branch, wrote in local newspaper Hiiu Leht that it was difficult for the municipality to cooperate with Viidik. Viidik however, said the decision to remove him from the party had come as a surprise to him and his team.

"I was talking to members of my team at the time when the decision to dismiss arrived. They said they read about it in the local paper and couldn't believe their eyes. Our cooperation was very good."

Evelin Lehtsaar also told ERR that the inability to cooperate and poor communication with party colleagues had played a major role in Viidik's expulsion. Other sources in the party have said the same. Lehtsaar added that the regional leadership had given Viidik an opportunity to explain himself, but that Viidik was no longer responding to those requests. 

Viidik, who was dismissed from his post as mayor of Kärdla, returned to the Hiiumaa Municipal Council, where he did not join the Reform Party group. Subsequently, the Reform Party was left with only two members in the council and lost the right to operate as a political group and participate in the work of the council's executive.

The relationship between Viidik and the party's regional branch had already begun to  show signs of strain last year, when he was not re-elected as Reform's regional leader and no longer took part in the process to elect the leadership.

According to Viidik, was not invited to the group's meetings and his questions about the future went unanswered.

In April, Hiiumaa Municipality also filed a criminal complaint against Viidik, alleging that on two occasions, he had used the municipality'  fuel card to fill up his own private vehicle. According to Viidik, he did use the card to refill his personal vehicle, but only for work purposes.

Asked what stage that particular investigation was currently at, Viidik said he did not know, but his conscience was clear. "I've been true to my word that I didn't know the exact regulations. On two occasions I used the card for business trips and did not declare double expenses. Everyone makes mistakes and I have asked the municipality's accounts department to send me an invoice to refund the money."

On May 13, the Reform Party's Hiiumaa branch posted on Facebook that they would propose Viidik's expulsion to the party's leadership . According to Viidik, he had no prior knowledge of such plans before neither the regional executive nor the party's leadership offered him the opportunity to negotiate.

After the meeting of Reform's executive board on Tuesday, Minister of Climate Kristen Michal told Vikerraadio that they had expelled Aivar Viidik from the party.

Aivar Viidik plans to continue his work in Hiiumaa Municipal Council. He is also in line to receive a mandate for the Riigikogu and said he has received an invitation to join another party.  Viidik preferred not to name said party at his stage.

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