Mayor of Tallinn ousted in city council vote

Mihhail Kõlvart and Igor Gräzin. Photo: Tairo Lutter

The Tallinn city council held an extraordinary session on Tuesday morning, where a vote of no confidence submitted by 37 members against Mayor of Tallinn and Center Party leader Mihhail Kolvart was successful.

Forty-one members of the city council voted in favor of the censure motion, with two of the council members abstaining from the vote.

40 votes were needed in the 79-seat council to oust the mayor.

The council also immediately elected a replacement for the mayor, with Social Democrat Madle Lippus receiving 40 votes.

At the beginning of the session, 43 council members had registered their presence, with three members from the Estonian Conservative People's Party (EKRE) -- Urmas Reitelmann, Ivan Makarov, and Raivo Pohjakivi -- not present.

The no-confidence motion against Kolvart was submitted by 37 council members on March 21. In addition to the members of the four opposition groups, the motion was also signed by non-group members Tonis Molder and Taavi Aas, as well as a member of the Center Party group, Igor Grazin.

The coalition of the Center Party and Social Democratic Party (SDE) currently holds 43 seats in the city council, but this number includes Grazin. The opposition is made up of the Reform Party, Isamaa, Estonia 200, and EKRE.