Tallinn City Council elects Mihhail Kõlvart as chair
At its first session, the newly convened Tallinn City Council elected Mihhail Kõlvart, chair of the Center Party, as its speaker.
Kõlvart received 44 votes in Tuesday's election, securing a majority in the council.
Seventy-five council members took part in the vote, while four were absent. One ballot was declared invalid. Those absent included two members from Isamaa and one each from the Center Party and the Reform Party.
Toomas Kruusimägi, the candidate nominated by the Reform Party faction and who had served as council speaker since the spring of last year, received 30 votes.
Kõlvart previously served as speaker of the Tallinn City Council from 2017 to 2019. In April 2019, he was elected mayor of Tallinn by the council and held the position until March 2024, when the then-governing coalition with the Social Democrats collapsed. Power subsequently shifted to the so-called four-party alliance, which included the Social Democrats, the Reform Party, Isamaa and Eesti 200.
The new governing coalition in Tallinn was formed by the Center Party and Isamaa, who signed a coalition agreement on Monday. The Center Party holds 37 seats in the 79-member council, while Isamaa holds 11. Under the terms of the agreement, Isamaa will hold the mayor's office for the first two years, while the Center Party will control the council speaker's post.
In opposition on the council are the Social Democrats (17 seats), the Reform Party (eight seats) and Parempoolsed (six seats).
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Editor: Marko Tooming, Marcus Turovski
