Internal change in IRL now up to extended leadership
The leadership of the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL) followed the proposal of Siim Kiisler, who suggested that its new leaders should be elected before changing its statutes, as suggested by the current chairman, Defence Minister Margus Tsahkna.
IRL is the product of several party mergers, which has left it with a comparably large leadership, at 24 members, and an internal election procedure that is based on interest groups rather than on each party member having a vote.
Tsahkna’s intention is to change that, while Kiisler’s camp is trying to continue on with the status quo at least for now. After the meeting, and after his own proposals got voted down, Tsahkna said that he wasn’t surprised about the result, as the leadership had been divided.
Both the party chairman as well as the party leadership can propose to IRL’s extended leadership to call a general meeting.
The leadership’s proposal, approved in Monday’s meeting, is to call a general meeting in May, where new leaders for the party would be elected. Tsahkna, who as chairman has the right to address the extended leadership directly, will suggest an emergency general meeting to be held on Apr. 29 to first change the party’s statutes and make its internal elections more transparent. After that, the general meeting would then meet later on to elect the party’s new chairman and leadership.
Tsahkna has announced that he isn’t interested in continuing as party chairman if the statutes are not reviewed and changed to make internal procedures more democratic before the next internal elections.
“The proposals that got the leadership’s nod today run counter to my proposal to make the party open, change the statutes, abolish voting by sections, eradicate the possibility of vote manipulation, and actually implement e-voting in the party. That is, these notions are fundamentally opposed to how we should elect our next leadership,” Tsahkna said.
He added that instead of a general meeting, it would now be the extended board, set to gather on Apr. 8, that would decide whether or not there would be any change at all. The chairman is hoping for a better result there, as the regional sections are better represented. “I believe the party wants to become more open, transparent, inclusive towards its members, and end vote manipulation and voting by sections,” Tsahkna said.
Editor: Dario Cavegn
Source: ERR, BNS
