Responding in a statement issued Friday to a claim by incumbent Tallinn Mayor Jevgeni Ossinovski (SDE) on Thursday that the Reform Party-driven power struggle in the capital would bring Mihhail Kõlvart to power, Kõlvart said there's no need to use him to scare people.  

"Despite the fact that the Center Party is the most popular political party in Tallinn and ranks second nationwide, I have no intention of taking or bargaining for the position of mayor or any other political post in the city administration ahead of the elections," Kõlvart said.

"I am the Center Party's mayoral candidate for the local elections, and plan to become mayor only if voters give me and the Center Party the mandate to do so, just like they did in the 2021 local elections," he noted. "I have no interest whatsoever in becoming mayor through intrigue, buyouts or triple-voting."

Kõlvart recalled that the supposedly principled decision referenced by the current mayor this week was likely also in play four years ago, when Ossinovski approached the Center Party and asked for them to include the Social Democrats in Tallinn's ruling coalition.

"Whatever the conditions — since their rating was right on the [5 percent] electoral threshold and they needed to ensure their party's survival at any cost," he recalled. "That was the Social Democrats' take on values then, and it's still their take now."

According to the party chair, this criticism of working with the Center Party is all the more odd given that not a single political party, the SDE among them, has ruled out cooperation after the elections — meaning less than four months from now.

Kõlvart offered Ossinovski two recommendations: support the elimination of monthly kindergarten fees in the city, and resign as mayor to maintain order in the city administration.

"If both of these conditions are met, the Center Party's [city council] group will not move to oust the current city government, and you can continue running the city in peace until the elections," he said, adding that this fall, voters can then decide who should form the next city government.

"Or are you willing to keep dismantling things for the sake of the mayor's seat, just like you did when you tore apart the coalition with the Center Party for that same seat?" he concluded.

In a written statement to the press on Thursday, responding to the Reform Party formally announcing to its coalition partners in the capital earlier that morning that it no longer supported Jevgeni Ossinovski (SDE) as mayor, Ossinovski said the Reform Party had made its decision — to break up the current Tallinn city government and bring the Center Party, led by Mihhail Kõlvart, back into power in the Estonian capital.

He added that the Reform Party's previous talk about the importance of children was merely a smokescreen, intended to prepare both the party and the public for Kõlvart's return.

Estonia's next local government council elections will be held on October 19.

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