Ojuland hoping for political comeback on wings of new party

Photo: Erik Prozes / Postimees

Ousted from Reform Party for buying up votes and failing to get MEP status as backed by mere 3,024 voters, Kristiina Ojuland is pressing for Riigikogu at elections happening on March 1^st 2015.

«Be careful.»

On several occasions Jane Snaith, a mother of four – two of them adopted –, was to hear this warning.

Five years ago, with local elections approaching, for pragmatic reasons the lady had joined Reform Party ranks: to finally get repairs going on the broken down home street at Tabasalu, Harku Commune. However, when after having been a free-will supporter of kids at children’s homes she desired helping these to have enhanced emphasis in the party, she hit a brick wall. At the helm of the governing party, Ms Snaith (married to an Englishman, she bears this strange name) saw the bigwigs doing their own familiar thing.

Ms Snaith, her last job being sales manager for Danish ornaments in the Baltics and now busy creating foster-families network over entire Estonia, decided to quit Reform Party.

«Be careful,» sounded the warnings.

A year ago, as Reform had expelled Ms Ojuland accusing her in votes fraud at inside-party elections, Ms Snaith with a little bunch of other ladies send Ms Ojuland a letter stating that not knowing white from wrong they supported her. «If ladies don’t support ladies, they’ll never advance on the political landscape,» Ms Snaith (45) explains the letter.

Enough!

On the third day of this year, together with a couple of dozen others, Ms Snaith came to Oru Hotel, in Kadriorg Park, Tallinn, to meet Ms Ojuland face to face. Ms Ojuland, having «digested ousting from Reform Party for two months last year» had driven her own car around Estonia, on the weekends of last fall, meeting ordinary people and listening to what they had to say. Also, she had discussed things with Eesti Pank chairman Jaan Männik and scientist Raik-Hiio Mikelsaar who had both been flirting with the idea of a new party. In mid-November, Ms Ojuland (47) arrived at inner conviction that a new party was needed indeed.

At the Oru Hotel meeting, with many of the guest current or former Reform party members, Ms Ojuland was encouraged to proceed. Also by Ms Snaith, among others. «I’m ready to be in,» she says, recalling the promise uttered.

«Be careful,» Ms Snaith heard from others who heard what she’d gotten into.

Now, a bit over half a year after that, the new party called Rahva Ühtsuse Erakond, RÜE (Unity of People Party) is becoming a reality. Last week, the required threshold of 500 members was cleared. Within days, it needs to be checked whether or not these include phantoms or ghosts – a scandal being the last thing on the new party’s mind. To Postimees, Ms Ojuland admits that there’s been many a young man, cheered by beer, expressing a daredevil desire to join the party. «But once the beer has waned, the desire has as well,» she adds, laughing.

The initial core of RÜE is made up of former Reform Party people. Of these, lion’s share cites old party’s behaviour of late as reason for the exit – a behaviour unbearable to them.

Peeter Reemann (44), father of four and for quarter of century working as blacksmith in Võru County, remembers joining Reform Party ten years ago. Then, things were as he had in good faith believed. «But as time went on, starting from Silvergate, I realised something was different,» he says. «And when they set up the Ms Ojuland truth-committee which was a true Potemkin Village, I’d had enough. At my own initiative, I left.»

When Ms Ojuland called Mr Reemann at the start of the year – up to then, they just said hello – inviting him to Kantri Hotel, Tartu, with many others including both scientists and businessmen, he decided to help the new endeavour. «Kristiina is a purpose-driven and talented lady, I support her a hundred percent,» says Mr Reemann.

Piret Haljend (42), mother of three sons and a daughter 1.5 years old, a female and charity activist also from Võru County, was in Reform Party ten years ago just like Mr Reemann. In her own words, she used to be a good party soldier; even so, she started to feel unhappy in it after a while. No matter that Ms Haljend, family nurse by profession, headed up Võru Commune’s Reform Party region. But she noticed that when people were talked about in the Reform Party, those talking were often looking some totally other way. «I stand 155 cm tall,» she discloses, «I know what it feels to be overlooked. That’s not nice.»

Ms Haljend’s cup was nearing its last drop last year as she got no answer to a question she had posed regarding her home area – but, after a while as the same problem was raised in Pärnu, all of a sudden is turned into something of importance. «You may have a nice idea, but somebody else does the deciding for you,» is how Ms Haljend summarises the attitude at Reform Party.

At the end of January, Ms Haljend became founding member of the new party, together with Mr Reemann, Ms Snaith, Ms Ojuland and 16 more people, in a restaurant called Oko in Kaberneeme, Harju County.

Up to now, RÜE has done its things as supported by donations by members. Up to the Laulupidu song celebration, the party rented an office at the Oru Hotel; now, they need to find new facilities. The only paid worker is coordinator Anita Luik (27) soon to graduate from Middle-East Master’s studies at University of Southern Denmark. Also a Reform member for a couple of years, she ceased to feel good there. «Everything is in place, and has been decided by someone,» she says. «Looking down at people, who have become mere numbers.»

Reform Party press representative said they were not willing to comment the creation of a new party.

Unity lost

Ms Ojuland, born in Kohtla-Järve and a graduate of a gymnasium at Jõhvi, has been trying to also involve Russians in the party under construction. Last fall, she met with high school students in Narva, asking them how many intended to stay in Estonia. Some few hands were raised. This week-end, Ms Ojuland met with inhabitants of Paldiski; next Saturday and Sunday will see her in Maardu. Currently, she has a tenth of her party composed of Russian speakers, from Ida-Viru County for the most part.

In North-East Estonia, one who diligently works for RÜE is Evelyn Danilov (30) of Kiviõli, a mother of three sons, whose private company West Wind provided legal and financial counsel for companies. While most RÜE activists have brought 5–15 members into the party, Ms Danilov can show over 40.

She’s also a Reform Party offspring, former Kiviõli region leader. Over the years, she and the party grew apart. «We no longer found any unity,» admits Ms Danilov. In other words: she no longer liked the situations where some men decode and the rest just have to listen. She left Reform Party at the start of this year.

Ms Danilov is one of the four women in the five-member interim board of RÜE. The only man there is the technology evangelist Indrek Vimberg (33), CEO of Eesti IKT Demokeskus and IKT Ekspordiklaster. In his work, including information/communication technology international image-shaping and enhancement of export for enterprises, he has repeatedly come in touch with Ms Ojuland. While in university, for a while he belonged to Reform Party; after he entered private sector – long ago – he exited. But when Ms Ojuland called him on the phone at end of last year and inquired about joining a new party, Mr Vimberg was on board at once. For him, creating something new felt exciting and refreshing. «If we get it done, we can afterwards offer the create-a-party service,» he smiles.

In the party-to-be, the engines of it want everybody’s ideas to be heard and discussed. Because most of them have the experience from Reform Party times where it was anything but that. Õnnela Raudsepp (41) living in Tamsalu, a mother of three daughters formerly employed by several banks and now heading up sports club Kalev in Rakvere, arrived at a conclusion during her eight years at Reform Party that if one wants to break through and get something done, you must know someone at the top of move to Tallinn. «But I want the shop assistant earning €300 a month to also have a say,» she says, explaining who she joined RÜE. Ms Raudsepp, whose husband Pavo used to be Estonia’s top ski sprinter a decade ago, believes a party starting with a clean sheet may capture people’s heart as «we haven’t screwed up anywhere».

Leader (at)traction

From last spring, from the EU election times, Ms Ojuland has invested most of her time in the new party; she has visited companies and fairs, been to old people’s day centres and vocational training schools. She’s been trying to pull along people respected in their home places or fields of occupation. At her own estimate, she has met eye-to-eye with at least a half of her 500 members. (At the occasional rare occasion, she manages to jog.)

Though abounding in opponents, even enemies – blond, dumb, gucci-mucci, she merrily lists clichés about her  –, she has the pull of the only household name in the party. Frank Zukker (24), a sales consultant in the dental company Prodent and law student at University of Tartu, says he’s always been a great supported of Ms Ojuland’s. Last year, while disappointed in the behaviour of Reform Party leaders – especially during the Ojuland voting scandal – he wrote her an encouraging e-mail, met with her, and has from this spring poured his every spare moment into building up the new party. Into RÜE, he has brought some fifteen members. «I hope will get ten thousand members together, by year’s end,» says Mr Zukker.

The moment of truth, for the new party, will arrive in seven and a half months at Riigikogu elections. As assured by Ms Ojuland, the big parties may have lots of experience and much more money, to say nothing about the various newcomers potentially biting into each others’ perspective vote tally, RÜE decidedly aims at getting into parliament.

----------------------------------------------------

Did you know that ...

the party’s interim board has four women and one man.

of the 500+ members of the party, 43 percent are men and 57 are ladies.

places most represented are Harju County, Ida-Viru County, Tartu and Pärnu.

a tenth of members do not speak Estonian as mother tongue.

Sources: Kristiina Ojuland, Anita Luik