The standard practice has been that the coveted Tallinn mayor post goes to the party in office which won most seats in the capital. At the recent local elections, Center won 37 seats, followed by the Social Democrats (SDE) with 17.

Isamaa, in third place with 11 seats, has found itself the "kingmaker" of the piece.
Speaking to "Aktuaalne kaamera" Saturday, Kõlvart, a former Tallinn mayor, said: "The Center Party's goal is not the mayor's post or other positions in city government. The Center Party's goal is the pledges we have made to voters. If the pledges get fulfilled, if the program is carried out, then that is the aim."

Isamaa's leader in Tallinn, Riina Solman, remained skeptical on the offer, saying in her experience no party has directly stated that it would give up the Tallinn mayoral position.

"I have been meeting with our various coalition partners throughout the week, and I see that both Mihhail Kõlvart and Jevgeni Ossinovski want Isamaa to simply open the door to the mayor's office for them. [However] I haven't sensed, with a single cell in my body, that they would be willing to surrender that position," she said.

Incumbent Mayor of Tallinn and SDE vice-chair Jevgeni Ossinovski had no comment to issue on the development; the Reform Party's mayoral candidate in Tallinn at the recent local elections, Maris Lauri, meanwhile said that the mayor should come from the party with the highest number of seats. Lauri added she cannot imagine any scenario where Isam

aa ends up with the mayor's post.

"All kinds of outcomes are possible, but it would be extremely strange. If the current game is purely about positions, it leaves a very sour impression of the whole thing," Lauri said.

Isamaa's board is to meet again on Monday.

The local elections two weeks ago saw a net loss of one party at the 79-seat Tallinn City Council, as Eesti 200 and EKRE found themselves without mandates, while Parempoolsed won its first Tallinn seats. Parempoolsed would be the fourth of the proposed four-party coalition which Ossinovski has offered to Isamaa, sometimes dubbed in the media "SIRP" (SDE-Isamaa-Reform-Parempoolsed, the literal meaning is "Sickle"). Center is three seats short of the required 40 needed for a majority, and before the election some had assumed EKRE could make up the balance in a coalition with Center. Instead, Center indicated soon after election day that it was willing to enter into talks with Isamaa, while Ossinovski had already proposed talks with Isamaa and his party, to be joined by Reform and Parempoolsed.

Isamaa then issued a 15-point questionnaire to all potential coalition partners and which Center answered; Isamaa also answered Center's own written questions.

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