Member of the European Parliament for Estonia Indrek Tarand believes that in the run-up to the fall local polls new citizens' initiatives spawned by online environments will emerge which may affect the outcome of the elections.
Estonian MEP: New civic movements may affect outcome of fall local polls
24th April 2013, 17:21
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Asked by the independent KUKU radio whether emerging new non-party pressure groups might influence the outcome of the polls in the capital Tallinn, Tarand said he believes that everything is possible.
"Groups of people are definitely going to try to push through their messages and ideas before the local elections because the party policy response is that no changes will be made in the rules before the fall. Consequently, it is necessary to invent asymmetrical counter strikes," Tarand said.
Tarand admitted being himself associated with some ideas even though he is neither a computer engineer nor a creator of online civic platforms. In his words, the run-up to the fall elections is the right time to try and do something in this field. "I perceive that people are ready for this and some kind of proposals and initiatives are bound to emerge," he told KUKU radio in Brussels on Tuesday.
Although existing parties can influence the choice of topics and have easier access to the media, there is no clarity about voters' reaction, the European lawmaker said. "We have no idea about how citizens will respond, how much critical thinking there is and how big is the wish to debate things in other channels and other fields of discussion," he said.
He admitted that much depends on whether the debate and critical positions expected to emerge in online channels will make it to ballot papers, in other words, whether the people behind them will go to the polls.
"It's easy to say that there is no choice, that all of them [political parties] are cast in the same mold. But in reality electoral alliances, some sort of surprisers may emerge. I reckon that even the small Green Party, despite its very difficult situation, will turn up. And then one gram will decide the balance. It will affect the activity of large parties with a mainly communist background as well," Tarand said.