Lauri told ERR that Isamaa's decision did not come as a surprise to her.

"We can go back to the campaign debates where Isamaa dodged the issue and never clearly said 'no' to cooperating with the Center Party. They said it would be very, very difficult, but their media campaign came across as being against Center, which gave many voters the impression that they would not team up with them. But once the delays began, it became clear they were preparing to make a difficult choice — to mislead voters — and that was surely hard to admit," Lauri said.

"The goal of dragging things out was to distract public attention. Well, we'll see if it worked, whether voters will forgive such a blatant lie," she added.

Lauri said the meetings between the three other parties and Isamaa had taken place in the hope of persuading Isamaa to form a four-party coalition with Reform, the Social Democratic Party and Parempoolsed.

Reform Party leader and Prime Minister Kristen Michal also chimed in via a social media post, writing that it is clear Isamaa has let down everyone to whom it promised not to strike bargains with pro-Russian forces in the name of political gain. "Congratulations go out to those who believed a word of what they were saying. Instead of a Christmas tree, we can now admire and decorate the Center Party brought in from the cold. The red five-pointed star goes at the very top, right, Urmas Reinsalu?" the PM wrote.

Mayor: I did not think Parvel Pruunsild was this influential in Isamaa

Jevgeni Ossinovski, the outgoing mayor of Tallinn and deputy chair of the Social Democratic Party, said the influence of businessman and major Isamaa donor Parvel Pruunsild should not be underestimated in the party's decision to begin coalition talks with the Center Party. According to Ossinovski, Isamaa abandoned its values in order to secure the mayor's seat.

"A couple of weeks ago, a senior Isamaa member said that since Parvel [Pruunsild] had decided they should go with Center, that's how it would go. I didn't want to believe that one man could have such influence over the party, but it seems that shouldn't be underestimated either," Ossinovski said.

"The risk was always there, that Isamaa would be willing to sell out its values and past promises for the mayor's seat, but I still have to say it's quite surprising that they're actually doing it," Ossinovski told ERR.

He added that Isamaa's decision was swayed in Center's favor by the fact that Center Party leader Mihhail Kõlvart offered them the mayor's seat. "The position mattered more than principles."

According to Ossinovski, the coalition being formed will be highly unbalanced. "Center has 37 seats, while Isamaa has 11," he pointed out.

The SDE politician said that regardless of who becomes the politically unaffiliated mayor promised by Isamaa, the real leader of the coalition will remain Mihhail Kõlvart.

Parempoolsed: Isamaa opted for Savisaarian cast of mind

"Despite the major victory for the left in Tallinn, there was some hope that it might still be possible to implement right-leaning changes, at least in part. But Isamaa chose not to take that opportunity and instead to go along with building socialism in Tallinn," Parempoolsed deputy head Siim Kiisler told ERR.

"As we said during our meeting with Isamaa, we weren't drawing any hard red lines in that setting, but we clearly wanted to see right-wing reforms in the city. Apparently, that didn't suit Isamaa — they seem intent on continuing a mindset rooted in the remnants of the Savisaar era: more bureaucracy, more redistribution, which ultimately does not benefit the city's residents," Kiisler said.

On Tuesday morning, the Center Party and Isamaa announced in a joint statement that they had agreed to begin coalition talks in Tallinn. Under the deal, a mayoral candidate from Isamaa — someone with no prior political background — will serve for the first two years, followed by a Center Party candidate for the next two.

The article was updated to add comments from representatives of the Social Democratic Party and Parempoolsed.

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