Entrepreneur Urmas Sõõrumaa: I was offered Tallinn mayor role
Entrepreneur Urmas Sõõrumaa has confirmed to ERR that the Reform Party offered him the role of Tallinn Mayor on Wednesday evening. According to the offer, Sõõrumaa would have replaced Jevgeni Ossinovski as mayor, with the rest of the coalition in the capital remaining unchanged.
"Yesterday (Wednesday – ed.) evening, Pärtel-Peeter Pere (Reform) offered me the mayor's seat because they cannot get along with each other. I'm not a politician, I'm an entrepreneur. I don't know what the problem is for them," Sõõrumaa told ERR on Thursday afternoon.
Sõõrumaa added that, according to the offer, the current Tallinn coalition of SDE, Reform Party, Isamaa and Eesti 200 would continue, with Sõõrumaa stepping in to replace Mayor Jevgeni Ossinovski (SDE).
"I have talked to all the major parties about the state of the country and how to move forward, and they have all invited me to join their ranks. But if I don't see a social pact and there remains political bickering, I will not take part in it," Sõõrumaa said.
The board of the Reform Party's Tallinn branch are due to meet on Friday at 3 p.m. to discuss the situation, with Õnne Pillak (Reform) saying the name of the mayoral candidate would be announced after the debate. Pillak declined to say who the party's mayoral candidate would be but did suggest they would retain that role beyond the upcoming elections.
Urmas Sõõrumaa ran in the 2017 local elections in Tallinn on the list of the "Savisaar Election Coalition and Active Tallinn" ("Savisaare Valimisliit ja Tegus Tallinn"). He received 734 votes in the Kesklinn district, which was not enough to be elected. His result was essentially the same as Isamaa's, which won the most votes in that district.
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Editor: Michael Cole
