SDE names former president as European election candidate without consulting him
Leader of the Social Democrats (SDE) Pärnu County region Peep Peterson says he and his party would like to see former president Toomas Hendrik Ilves run on its list at the June European Parliament elections. However, the party has not discussed this with Ilves himself.
On February 28, Peep Peterson sent a press release to the media about which names the SDE Pärnumaa regional board is sending to the party's election committee for the European Parliament electoral list.
An SDE proposal listed current SDE MEPs Marina Kaljurand and Sven Mikser, as well as Toomas Hendrik Ilves, and candidates from Pärnu County itself.
In a press release Peterson, a former health minister, wrote: "The trio of Kaljurand, Ilves and Mikser would be a dream team in terms of the consolidation of Europe and in the face of Russia's war of conquest, while [Pärnu County SDE members] Epp Klooster, Gerda Kordemets and Tanel Talve can expand the [European] Parliament's perception of those local issues that affect everyone."
However, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Estonian head of state over two consecutive terms 2006-2016, was critical of Pärnu SDE branch and its actions, noting on a social media post that the party had not bothered to ask him about running.
The rhetorical question was phrased: "Could anyone have been bothered to ask me anything? The party?: No. Postimees: No."
ERR also asked Ilves for comment on the Peterson communiqué, to which he responded via text message: "Why? Then I would have to comment on every idiocy that arises. Simply NO."
While Ilves was formerly an SDE member, he formally left the party on January 1, 2007, according to the Business Register (Äriregister).
Kas keegi viitsis minu käest midagi küsida?
— toomas ilves, ex-verif (@IlvesToomas) February 29, 2024
Partei?
Ei
ajaleht @postimees
EI#rampspolitiika#rampsajakirjandus#rampspostimeeshttps://t.co/rH2oWmz5ws
Peep Peterson told ERR Thursday that while his desire is still for Ilves to run as an SDE candidate at the forthcoming European elections, effectively making his name public in that context via the press release had been a mistake, given that there had been no prior agreement with Ilves himself.
Peterson said: "We noted down this name and sent it also to the party's electoral committee."
"We hope very much is that this will inspire the party's leadership to go down this route. What we do not consider as a solid move so far as our actions go is that we put this name in print, in the press release, and that is unfortunate," he went on.
Peterson added that he has not yet received feedback from the SDE chair on the Ilves candidacy proposal.
Several leading SDE politicians who ERR spoke to also said that Peterson's press release needn't be taken too seriously, calling it a "solo effort" and "playing around with names."
SDE's other regions have published their recommended candidates ahead of a party congress in Paide on March 16, Pärnu County's list is absent from the SDE website at the time of writing.
The party chair will also unveil the election candidate list on the same date.
Nominations for candidates for the European elections, to be made to the party board and its elections committee, are open until tomorrow, Friday.
The European Parliament elections run June 6-9, with Estonia going to the polls on the last of these days.
As noted SDE currently has two MEPs, while there are seven seats being voted for, for the whole of Estonia.
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Editor: Aleksander Krjukov, Andrew Whyte
