New Talvik-led party announces its official name
The official name of the latest new party to grace the Estonian political scene has been unveiled by its leading members. It will be called the 'Biodiversity Party', illustrating clearly the environmental stance that its members and co-founders take.
Talk about the proposed new party had been going on for some weeks and a significant meeting in Tartu took place in August with Mr. Talvik and others from the ecological, artistic ad journalistic milieu including Anzori Barklaja, Roy Strider, Rainer Kuuba, journalist Airi Hallik-Konnula, Mart Jüssi, Toomas Trapido and Mati Kose.
Mr. Talvik, former leader of the Free Party, also announced at the time that the nascent, but still nameless, party was already registered as a not-for-profit organisation.
Two separate but related organisations
Mr. Barkalaja confirmed to ERR that the new body would be named the Biodiversity Party (Estonian: 'Elurikkuse Erakond'), following on from the formation of the not-for-profit group mentioned above, called 'Better Weather'.
"With the Biodiversity Party, we are starting to build an organisation which, combined with Better Weather, forms a platform for all, including those who don't actually want to join the party," Mr. Barkalaja said, outlining the relationship between the two groups.
''Better Weather is a network-based platform for communication which, whilst it is not set up simply to support the party, is a forum for all to propose and discuss new political or social practices,'' he elaborated.
No definite collaboration with other parties
Mr. Barklaja also ruled out potential cooperation with fellow newbies, Estonia 200, which also only recently announced full-fledged party status, on the grounds that their views on economic matters in particular did not coincide.
Concerning Mr. Talvik's former party, the Free Party, which might also seem like a more natural fit, Mr. Barklaja took a wait-and-see approach to cooperation.
The Free Party has been riven with unrest and leadership challenges issued to its current head, Andres Herkel. It currently has only a little over 600 members (a registered political party in Estonia must have a minimum of 500 members) though it does hold seven seats at the Estonian parliament.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte