Council chair Tõnis Lukas leaves Isamaa Tartu faction as influencer Kris Kärner joins
On Thursday, Isamaa confirmed the 15 members of its faction in Tartu. However, Tartu City Council Chair Tõnis Lukas was left off the list after refusing to be in the same coalition as Kris Kärner.
At the Tartu City Council meeting on December 4, Toomas Jürgenstein asked Council Chairman Tõnis Lukas whether he no longer belonged to any political party's faction.
"I read the list of faction members and discovered that the council chair does not belong to any faction. Is this a printing error or is it really the case?" Jürgenstein asked Lukas.
"That is currently the case, and I believe that I can manage the council very well even in this situation," Lukas replied.
Tõnis Lukas, who was the Isamaa party's candidate for Tartu mayor, has previously said that he does not see how he could belong to the same faction as social media influencer Kris Kärner, who has disparaged both Lukas and his political opponents in online posts as well as used expressions that seem to incite violence against them.
Kärner was confirmed as a member of Isamaa's Tartu faction, therefore Lukas will no longer continue in the coalition.
"I don't see why he should be in the Isamaa faction, and I don't see why I should be in the same faction as him," Lukas told ERR last Thursday.
Isamaa confirmed the composition of its Tartu City Council faction on December 4 as Kris Kärner, Sandra Laur, Lauri Kõrgvee, Joel Luhamets, Mihhail Lotman, Kaspar Kokk, Merle Jääger, Loone Ots, Allan Unt, Meelis Leidt, Ene Tannberg, Lembit Kalev, Piret Tarto, Urmo Viickberg and Kristjan Pallav. The faction chair is Kaspar Kokk and deputy chair is Lauri Kõrgvee.
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Editor: Michael Cole
