However, by far the largest municipality, Tallinn, stands out in having no coalition deal inked and no mayoral candidate announced. Some experts note that those holding negotiations, from the Center Party and Isamaa, should hurry, as the deadline for the capital's 2026 budget looms.

Political analyst Tarmo Jüristo negotiations are still ongoing in several municipalities, telling "Aktuaalne kaamera": "Among the bigger and more important ones is certainly Tallinn, which everyone is watching with interest to see where the negotiations will end up."

"It was just reported that an agreement was reached in Narva, although in Narva, politics is, as usual, very dynamic. Katri Raik also said that until the votes are cast at two o'clock tomorrow (i.e. Monday – ed.), it's too early to say anything, but at the moment it appears that a coalition between Katri Raik's list and [Mihhail] Stalnuhhin's list will emerge."

In Jüristo's view, the speed at which coalitions have been formed this time around has been more or less the same as following previous local elections. In local politics, much depends on the people around the table, and long-time acquaintances often make decisions more quickly and easily, he said.

Political analyst Annika Arras found Isamaa has had most difficult time forming coalitions, not least because of the electoral success the party had nationwide on October 19.

"When your election result is this good and you have so many negotiations going on in parallel, then I think finding compromises and making agreements within the party also takes time," Arras said.

Tallinn's negotiations have also been complicated by the past week's news cycle. Jüristo points to the Oleg Bessedin case. Bessedin is allegedly a long-term co-operator with the city government, at least when it was Center Party led, which it has been for much of the past 20+ years. Bessedin, a "gray passport" holder, is now detained on suspicion of crimes against the state, a situation which must have made Isamaa, already drawing flak for entering talks with Center, uncomfortable.

"Without a doubt, the timing and the fact that these sums — and they are not small — have moved make this uncomfortable situation even more uncomfortable for Isamaa," Jüristo outlined.

In addition, Jüristo finds it strange that Isamaa's mayoral candidate is still unclear, even though that person should in fact be involved in the coalition negotiations.
This is even more the case as once agreements are reached, the city budget will have to be adopted without delay, he noted. Before formal Isamaa-Center Party Tallinn talks started the week before last, Center's leader and former Tallinn mayor Mihhail Kõlvart had indicated that the mayoral post would likely go to Isamaa.

Arras said that adopting the city budget will surely prove tough. "This in turn means that the ruling coalition must have a great deal of internal unity and clear agreements in place in order to handle the process quickly later on," she explained.

Another factor has been the time taken in formally announcing the election results, once all complaints have been dealt with. Arne Koitmäe, head of the Estonian National Electoral Committee (RVT), told "Aktuaalne kaamera" a large number of complaints were filed on e-voting this time, and court cases are still being processed, though there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

"Most of the complaints have now been reviewed. There were indeed a lot of them at these elections. I would say more than 50. Some were combined via the proceedings. In that sense, the 'end' of the elections has been pushed back a bit," Koitmäe explained.

After the 2021 local elections, six formal complaints were made to the electoral committee.

The final complaint this time around is to be forwarded to the Supreme Court today, Monday, and the top court has seven days to review it. This points towards a decision in the final week of November, and once that is done, the official results can be announced.

The 2025 Tallinn city budget was announced exactly a year ago, though this was not following an election: The Reform-Isamaa-Eesti 200-SDE coalition at the time had entered office in April 2024.

Of Estonia's next largest towns, Pärnu's coalition was announced just days after the election, the coalition agreement in Tartu was signed last week; in Viljandi, a week earlier, and the Raik-Stalnuhhin coalition agreement in Narva was inked on Saturday.

--

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