Narva council ousts mayor in censure vote

The council of the northeastern Estonian border city Narva voted at its extraordinary sitting on Saturday morning in favor of a censure motion against Mayor Katri Raik. Photo: Ilja Smirnov / Põhjarannik

The council of the northeastern Estonian border city Narva voted at its extraordinary sitting on Saturday morning in favor of a censure motion against Mayor Katri Raik, a Social Democrat.

The motion was carried by a vote of 19 to eight, with three abstentions. There are a total of 31 seats on the Narva council, 18 of which belong to the newly established political group called Narva.

The council appointed Deputy Mayor Jelena Golubeva as substitute mayor until the appointment of a new mayor.

Before the start of the council sitting, supporters of Katri Raik gathered in front of the Narva town hall. Raik emphasized in her speech before the no- confidence vote that Narva must be «faced towards Estonia.»

The censure motion against the mayor was initiated by the Narva political group.

«We propose to the Narva city council to express no confidence in Narva Mayor Katri Raik, whose incompetent actions in the position of mayor have caused situations where the work of the city government and Narva city authorities was seriously disturbed,» the censure motion reads.

According to the chairman of the group, Aleksei Jevgrafov, the main reason for the censure of Raik is the fact that the mayor could not ensure the preservation of old, or Soviet-era, street names, which are of great importance for residents of Narva. Besides, for instance, the bill of the supplementary budget reached the council just two hours before the sitting, he said.

The censure motion was signed by 18 council members with Russian names, all of whom belong to the Narva group, formed from members of the Center Party and their supporters.