Viktoria Ladonskaja, candidate from Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL), has won the last of IRL's 14 seats in the Riigikogu according a vote recount conducted on Wednesday.
Recount gives parlt seat to Ladonskaja
11th March 2015, 17:31
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The outcome of the recount that started at 11 a.m. Wednesday shows Ladonskaja as having received 1,393 votes and Sven Sester, another IRL candidate, 1,392 votes in the March 1 general elections.
The National Election Committee on Tuesday instructed the election committee of the city of Tallinn to recount the votes cast for Ladonskaja and Sester. The committee noted that while it does not satisfy the complaint Ladonskaja and finds that in determining the election result the election committee of Tallinn has observed all the rules set out in the election law, considering big public interest and the need to ensure fairness, transparency and credibility of the election it decided to instruct the election committee of Tallinn to conduct a recount.
Ladonskaja, IRL candidate in the 2nd district embracing the Central Tallinn, Lasnamae and Pirita boroughs of Tallinn, demanded a new recount after an initial recount showed her as losing to Sester by one vote and being the first candidate on the IRL list not getting a seat in parliament.
The initial election result made public on the night after the polls showed Ladonskaja as the last candidate on the IRL list to win a Riigikogu seat, beating Sester by one vote. By the morning the election outcome showed them as having an equal number of votes, while a repeat recount in the morning put Sester ahead of Ladonskaja with votes 1,394 to 1,393.
Officials said at the time the outcome was determined by two ballots deemed invalid, on one of which a number had beed corrected and the other was lacking a stamp.