"We will convene the board of the Tallinn branch in the first half of this week to lay out the information and arguments gathered during last week's meetings. There are 15 board members in total, plus the new council members who will vote for or against the new mayor in the city council," said Riina Solman, head of Isamaa's Tallinn branch.

Asked whether there is more common ground with the four-party alliance or the Center Party, Solman replied that it depends on how one defines common ground.

"Of course, we were used to working with the four-party alliance (with Reform, SDE and Eesti 200 – ed.) — it became familiar. And we had fun with them. From the outside, it may have looked like the deputy mayors didn't get along, but that was largely due to the separation of the municipal services and transport departments, which made the boundaries unclear. But the overall atmosphere in the four-party alliance was very good."

According to Solman, a new development has now emerged: Eesti 200 has been replaced in the city council by Parempoolsed, with whom, she said, "it's entirely possible to cooperate."

As for the Center Party, Solman said Isamaa hasn't worked with them or with Mihhail Kõlvart at the city level, though there was cooperation during Jüri Ratas's first and second governments.

"There's definitely some common ground there too, but also a lot of unknowns. And maybe that's one of the frozen issues in Tallinn — it's the Russian-speaking population. [Center leader] Mihhail Kõlvart's positions primarily influence that segment of the population, which gave him a massive number of votes."

The question of which direction to take is exactly what the Tallinn branch board will consider, Solman said. In her view, the frozen issues — social tensions and the broader changes driven by global threats — must be addressed.

"Whichever partner enables us to solve these better is likely the one we'll choose. And the decision truly lies with the regional board — it will be up to Isamaa's Tallinn region to make that call."

Solman rejected the criticism that Isamaa has been dragging its feet on starting coalition talks. She said that if the goal is stable city governance for the next four years, then it's worth taking the time to thoroughly discuss the different possibilities.

"One fun moment with the four-party coalition was when I was sitting right here on this couch while we were putting the coalition agreement together and I said we want to revoke voting rights from citizens of the aggressor state. And my coalition partners laughed at that. The mayor [SDE's Jevgeni Ossinovski], as well as Pärtel-Peeter Pere (Reform), who was sitting next to me, told me after the show, 'Riina, now I'll have to go smooth out your rough edges.' But I knew exactly where to throw the axe at the mirror so it would start cracking at Toompea. So, forming a coalition in Tallinn inevitably involves some national-level issues too," said Solman.

In response to a question about the most important topic in the negotiations and what must be included in the coalition agreement, Solman said continuing the transition to Estonian-language education is key.

"At the same pace, but with support for both Russian- and Estonian-speaking students. We've received a lot of feedback from kindergartens that when Russian-speaking children are in the majority, kids start coming home speaking with a Russian accent and using Russian words. In one sense, it's endearing — but we also understand that we are called to preserve the Estonian language, culture, national identity and the survival of our state."

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and X and never miss an update!