The Free Party’s Jaanus Ojangu told ERR’s “Aktuaalne Kaamera” newscast last weekend that they had a direction similar to that of the independents, and that their people were well-represented on the “Free Citizens of Tallinn” list.

Including its supporting members, the Free Party has 225 members in three electoral districts in the capital. The “Free Citizens of Tallinn” managed to gather some 8,800 votes in the 2013 election. The list’s platform for this year’s local polls is ready, and a campaign with a budget of some €30,000 in preparation.

Member of the list’s active committee, Erik Vest, told ERR that the list consisted of candidates without the typical political connections. “We want that those who come to us are free in their ideas, thoughts, and opinions, and that they don’t depend on a direction prescribed by a political party,” Vest said.

Chairman of the Free Party, Andres Herkel, confirmed that the members of the party’s parliamentary group would not run in the upcoming local elections. Herkel criticized the practice of the large political parties sharply to send their ministers into those elections as candidates. None of them would trade their government positions for a local council seat, Herkel said.

“The Free Party’s position is still that we would need such a system that each new mandate invalidates the previous one. And if a member of the Riigikogu successfully runs for a local seat, this would have to mean that they lose their parliamentary mandate,” Herkel said, adding that their members wanted to be members of parliament, and hence would stay out of this year’s local elections.