Kärner said his 1,597 votes in Sunday's local elections came mainly from young voters and older supporters who back the youth.

He noted that while he works as a marketing specialist, it's surely his eight years as a content creator that brought him most of his votes.

"This was definitely a bigger result than I expected," he said. "Honestly, I was bracing myself for a total flop today. You never know — one thing is having a lot of viewers and followers across Estonia, but how many you have within Tartu itself is always one big question mark."

Kärner left the Isamaa party in September after his social media posts calling for political violence surfaced. Despite this, he remained on the party's candidate list, even though the Isamaa's regional chapter chair urged him to withdraw.

At the Isamaa election party late Sunday night, Kärner said it's too early to comment on his future relationship with the party.

"Ultimately, it doesn't matter which party I belong to; I stand for myself and my voters, and that's exactly how it is," he said.

He has publicly apologized for his past statements, and described his actions as playing a character on social media. Kärner argued that society won't get very far with people constantly judging actors and others who adopt roles anywhere

"If I were an ordinary person — quiet, calm — people wouldn't find it exciting or interesting to follow," Kärner explained.

"You still have to be some kind of character," he added. "How big and how much [of one] is up to everyone themselves to decide."

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