Ansip not to run in case of new Reform Party leadership election

BNS
Copy
Please note that the article is more than five years old and belongs to our archive. We do not update the content of the archives, so it may be necessary to consult newer sources.
Photo: Mihkel Maripuu / Postimees

The leader of Estonia's Reform Party, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, said on Thursday that if the party's policy-making council decides on Saturday to convene a new congress and hold new election of the governing board he will not be running for chairmanship again.

«I said already a year ago that this would be my last term as prime minister. At the congress in Tartu I also said that it was the last congress at which I ran for chairmanship of the party, so, basically, what I have said should be taken into consideration also when it comes to new elections,» Ansip told journalists at the government's press conference.

Convening a new congress is on the agenda of Saturday's meeting of the party's policy-making council because of extensive voting fraud in the May leadership election.

An in-party investigation established that votes were rigged in three counties in the party's internal voting in conjunction with the congress held on May 25. The work group looking into irregularities in the elections identified a total of 71 breaches in the West-Viru, Voru and Viljandi counties. All the rigged votes given in West-Viru County and some of the Voru County fraudulent votes went to MEP Kristiina Ojuland who was expelled from the party last week, spokespeople for the Reform Party said. According to the figures, 2.1 percent of the votes given for the present governing board of the party were manipulated. In all 1,494 votes were cast in the internal voting.

Comments
Copy
Top