These are: Former city center district elder Monika Haukanõmm; former government minister Tiit Terik; Andrei Kante, a previous deputy mayor, and former Eesti 200 member Joel Jesse. Council leader Mihhail Kõlvart says all are proven experts in their fields.

"The Center Party pledged to raise the level of city governance — and that is exactly what we are doing by appointing professional deputy mayors. All of our candidates have high competence in their fields, and I am convinced they can apply it for the benefit of Tallinn's residents," Kõlvart said at Wednesday morning's press conference, where the candidates were announced.

Haukanõmm will hold the culture and sports portfolio. She said she will particularly focus on strengthening the Song and Dance Festival tradition and on developing the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds area.

Roof-covered outdoor stages in every Tallinn district, more summer concerts and Christmas events, and sport and mobility for all, were other areas she emphasized.

"What matters most is a mindset shift — art, culture, and sport are not an expense but an investment in every Tallinner," she said.

Former culture minister Tiit Terik is getting the law enforcement, urban planning, and city assets portfolio. He stressed that Tallinn's crisis preparedness must be continuously improved.

"We will take steps to improve our own systems and to educate residents. One of the key duties of the city is ensuring a feeling of safety for citizens and visitors in public spaces. Safety is created by society as a whole. In Tallinn, we want to test our crisis plans in joint exercises organized together with the Defense League," he said.

A new comprehensive plan and a development roundtable with builders and city partners, to improve planning processes, were also areas Terik highlighted.

Kante, a deputy mayor in the Center-SDE city government in office to spring 2024, will get the education portfolio. Tallinn's policies must guarantee students world-class education, he said, and focused on the language issue in education.

"We will provide kindergartens and schools with needs-based, systematic support for a smooth transition to Estonian-language instruction. That includes supporting teachers, students, and families alike to secure a safe learning environment that promotes development," Kante said.

Boosting wages, expanding the competence center, and creating a centralized collection of learning materials adapted to the principles of integrated subject-and-language learning were ways to achieve this, he said.

For his part, Jesse highlighted the need to ensure smooth and safe mobility for everyone in the capital. "In shaping urban space we must ensure it is diverse, modern, and secure, and we must pay special attention to traffic safety, especially in the vicinity of kindergartens and school buildings," he said.

Jesse reaffirmed the continuation of free public transport to Tallinn residents, in place for over a decade, and pledged not to expand the paid parking zone in central Tallinn beyond its current boundaries, nor to hike parking fees in existing zones.

Jesse was, until July this year, an Eesti 200 member, having joined the party shortly after its formation in 2018. Prior to that, he had been a Reform Party member for 16 years. Haukanõmm joined Center in 2020 and was previously a member of the now-defunct Free Party, and before that of IRL, as Isamaa was then known.

Isamaa announced its two deputy mayoral candidates, Riina Solman and Kristjan Järvan, the latter returning to office but with a different portfolio, earlier on Wednesday. Isamaa has the mayoral position in Peeter Raudsepp, its apolitical nominee, while Center has the equally significant council chair post via its leader, former mayor Mihhail Kõlvart.

While Kõlvart is already confirmed in his post following a vote Tuesday, the mayor and his deputies all need to be voted into office. The coalition has a 48-seat majority at the 79-seat council. In addition to the city government, each of Tallinn's eight districts has a district government, headed by a district elder.

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