Two high-profile former members of Estonia's Center Party, Ain Seppik and Toomas Varek, have joined the Reform Party and will be running in the fall local polls.
Two high-profile former Centrists join Reform Party
27th June 2013, 15:42
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Seppik, a former interior minister and currently a member of the Tallinn City Council, stated that his wish is to avert a shift to the left in Estonia, spokespeople for the Reform Party said. «I withdrew from top-level politics a few years ago, planning rather to remain an expert who helps the public understand the corridors of power. However, what's happening in Tallinn nowadays bothers me, change is needed here. As a lawyer, a grandfather, even as a driver, I intend to contribute ideas and offer solutions for the changes that ought to happen in Tallinn in the fall,» Seppik said.
«I considered joining the Reform Party for a long time. For me, it's a party that has taken the road of populism neither in better times nor at critical moments and tirelessly asks of itself - what should we do for life in Estonia to be even better five or fifteen years from now?» he added.
Varek, a former speaker of parliament and interior minister and current mayor of the northern city of Rakvere, confirmed his wish to run in Rakvere in the upcoming local elections. The Reform Party backed Varek for mayor last summer. «Experience shows that running a state or a city is team work and becoming a member of the Reform Party as a well functioning team is a logical step,» Varek explained. He added that he likes the party's right-wing economic policies and is pleased that Estonia's outlooks are good compared to other European countries.
Seppik joined the Center Party in 1998 but quit in March last year over dissatisfaction with chairman Edgar Savisaar's autocratic style of leadership and attitudes.
At the beginning of April 2012, following the expulsion of MP Kalle Laanet for his outspoken criticism of party leadership, also MPs Deniss Borodits, Lembit Kaljuvee, Inara Luigas and Rainer Vakra left the Center Party. A few days earlier also MEPs Siiri Oviir and Vilja Savisaar-Toomast, as well as Varek, had quit.