"Yes, that's my recommendation," Tõnis Lukas told ERR in an interview, when asked if he believes YouTuber Kris Kärner should withdraw his candidacy from Isamaa's list, since the party itself can no longer make changes to it.

Kärner, 28, who joined Isamaa this February and is better known on YouTube as Istoprocent, has frequently drawn attention on social media for inflammatory language and incitement to hatred against virtually everyone and everything. In one post, he even wrote that members of the Social Democratic Party should be lined up against a wall and shot with a pump-action shotgun, Tartu Postimees reported Thursday.

Lukas said he was deeply angered by this. "Because Isamaa is a national democratic party that has been built up in the Republic of Estonia for a very long time, and having such uneducated talk associated with us is very painful," he said.

"A person running for Tartu City Council must offer people a sense of security and be convincing as someone who takes responsibility. That's why it was probably a surprise to him that people started looking back at what he had done and what he had posted," Lukas continued. "Now he has said he will not repeat such things and has apologized. And I hope he apologizes publicly — not reinterpret his words, but simply apologize, because that sort of crude rhetoric is utterly unsuitable for our society," said Lukas, who is also Isamaa's candidate for Tartu mayor.

"And whether he withdraws his candidacy is, legally, up to him," Lukas, who also serves in the Riigikogu, added.

Commenting on the Tartu Postimees article, Social Democratic Party (SDE) chair Lauri Läänemets wrote on social media that he expects a clear and unambiguous response from Isamaa chairman Urmas Reinsalu, stressing that there is no place in Estonian politics for such a person.

"'We had a talk with the boy' is not a suitable reaction for a party seeking government responsibility. That is normalizing hatred and violence. It is no different from EKRE's past reactions. This spits on the very values on which the Estonian state is founded. Nobody wants to see a party leading the country that turns a blind eye when someone threatens another person's life. This is not about elections but about the message the Isamaa party is sending to Estonian society. Calling for the killing of fellow citizens over their views is NKVD behavior, which we detest from the Soviet occupation period," Läänemets wrote.

The SDE leader, who previously served as minister of the interior, added that from his time in office he knows how serious a problem the rise of extremism is for the Internal Security Service and the Police and Border Guard Board, and how it undermines the strong sense of security long valued in Estonia. He also pointed to the recent killing in the United States, where conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated in an attack.

"Urmas Reinsalu, I expect a decisive response in addressing this issue!" Läänemets concluded.

As of Friday afternoon, ERR was unable to reach Isamaa chairman Urmas Reinsalu for comment.

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