After MEP Yana Toom (Center/ALDE) announced earlier in July that she wouldn’t be running on an independent list after all, Stalnuhhin is yet another prominent Russian-speaking politician to stay in line with the Center Party.

Toom, along with MPs Olga Ivanova and Oudekki Loone, had made demands regarding the line-up of Center Party candidates as well as aspects of its campaign platform: Among other things, this included allowing former long-time party chairman Edgar Savisaar to run in Tallinn’s Lasnamäe borough should he wish to do so.

After agreeing to set up an independent list with Ivanova and Loone, Toom had a change of heart, abandoned the plan, and instead went with the party.

Asked by daily Eesti Päevaleht whether or not he would be a party candidate, Stalnuhhin answered with a question of his own: “Have you ever seen me in cahoots with Toom, Ivanova, and Loone? If anyone of us is talking about election coalitions, it’s them.”

He added that he was waiting for the party leadership’s decision concerning a potential candidacy in the local polls. “Whether or not I’ll run is for the party leadership to decide, and I expect them to tell me what they want,” Stalnuhhin said.

Party secretary general Mihhail Korb said that they would get to a decision together with Stalnuhhin. As is typically the case in Estonian parties unless a campaign manager is appointed, the secretaries general are in charge of parties’ election lists as well as campaigns.