Fracture in Isamaa's Tartu lineup will be resolved next week'
Isamaa's leading politician in Tartu has said there may not be room for him and a controversial influencer to both sit on the city's council.
Influencer Kris Kärner left Isamaa after controversial remarks he had made came to light ahead of the October 19 local election. He won a seat on the Isamaa list at that election, however, leaving open the question of what to do with him.
Tõnis Lukas, who was Isamaa's mayoral candidate in Tartu said Thursday he didn't: "See that he should be in the Isamaa faction, and I don't see that I should be in the same faction with him."
Beyond that, Lukas, a former government minister, said he does not know how the situation might be resolved, but that a solution should be found next week, when the faction gathers for the first time.
Priit Humal, likely become deputy mayor in the nascent Tartu coalition, agreed it was not clear how the issue might pan out.
"I can't quite say what will happen," Humal said. "The board's position was that all who ran can join the faction. There's been no more discussion on it;" though added that he personally would like to see Kärner join the Isamaa faction on the city's legislature.
Another prominent Isamaa member in Tartu who ERR approached, Mihhail Lotman, did not wish to comment on how things might be resolved, adding this will be made clear after the faction has convened next week.
Matters came to a head in mid-September when it became clear that Kärner, 29, a social media influencer with the username Istoprocent, had made various controversial statements online, including one that members of the Social Democratic Party should be executed by firing squad.
SDE deputy mayor at the time, Elo Kiivet, filed a complaint with the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA), and Kärner shortly afterwards announced he had left Isamaa. However, electoral rules meant he was locked in on the party's Tartu list at October's local elections. He went on to win a seat, polling at 1,597, behind only Lukas himself.
Kärner said this week he would join Isamaa's faction, meaning sitting with their deputies at Tartu city council, but not join the party itself, which he remains critical of.
Another factor is that Isamaa and the Reform Party, the two parties who earlier this month signed a coalition deal in Tartu, won 15 seats apiece, so Kärner sitting with Isamaa makes a difference to that balance, if Lukas or anyone else does not step down as a result.
Reform had traditionally been dominant in Tartu, and the party has retained the mayoral post, with Urmas Klaas returning for another term.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Huko Aaspõllu
