Tallinn City Council elects Ossinovski as mayor

Photo: Mihkel Maripuu

The Tallinn City Council at its extraordinary sitting on Sunday elected Social Democrat Jevgeni Ossinovski as mayor of Tallinn and endorsed the composition of the new city government.

Ossinovski received 41 votes in the 79-seat council. Forty-one council members also participated in the voting.

The council approved the size of the city government, which includes eight deputy mayors, and approved the new deputy mayors. The members of the Tallinn city government, in addition to Ossinovski, are Madle Lippus, deputy mayor for urban planning; Kaarel Oja, deputy mayor for sport, culture and law enforcement; Partel-Peeter Pere, deputy mayor for the environment and public utilities; Viljar Jaamu, deputy mayor for municipal assets; Kristjan Jarvan, deputy mayor for transport; Karl Sander Kase, deputy mayor for social affairs and health care; Margot Roose, deputy mayor for entrepreneurship; and Aleksei Jasin, deputy mayor for education.

Ossinovski, who turns 38 on Monday, is a native of the northeastern city of Kohtla-Jarve. He was minister of education and research in the government of Estonia in 2014-2015 and minister of labor from 2015 to 2018. He is a member of the Riigikogu and has also sat in the three previous lineups of the legislative body. He has been a member of the Tallinn city council since 2021 and he chaired the council from 2021 to 2023. Ossinovski obtained a degree in philosophy from the University of Tartu, cum laude, in 2007; a master's degree in philosophy, cum laude, from Warwick University in 2009; and a master's in comparative politics, cum laude, from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2010.

Lippus, a Social Democrat, has been deputy mayor of Tallinn since November 2021, and has served as the acting mayor of Tallinn for the past three weeks, since the ouster of previous mayor Mihhail Kolvart in a confidence vote. Lippus is the head of the Tallinn chapter of Social Democrats. She holds a bachelor's degree in heritage conservation and restoration and a master's degree in urban management.

Oja, also a Social Democrat, has been deputy mayor of Tallinn since November 2021. His previous jobs include those of strategist and creative director at a business consultancy, the head of Maurus, a publishing house for educational materials, and the CEO of Telliskivi Creative City, Vaba Lava and the theater NO99. Oja holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and public relations, with a minor in economics.

Pere, coming from the Reform Party, has previously worked as an urban strategist, editor-in-chief of "Ehituse teekaart 2040" ("Construction Roadmap 2040") and advisor on greening at Tallinn University of Technology. He has co-founded a management consultancy in Stockholm, which has helped cities in the Nordic countries, the Netherlands, Switzerland and elsewhere attract international labor and investment. 2023. In 2007, he got elected as an MP.

Jaamu, the second deputy mayor from Reform, was deputy chairman of the Tallinn city council. From 1996 to 2004, he worked at shipper Tallink Grupp as marketing director and member of the board. In 2006-2007, Jaamu was the chairman of the board of Enterprise Estonia. He holds a PhD in economics from Tallinn University of Technology.

Jarvan, coming from the Isamaa party, is former minister for entrepreneurship and IT. He is an entrepreneur and founder of several startups. Jarvan holds degrees in law and economics from the University of Tartu.

Kase is the chairman of the Isamaa group in Tallinn city council and former spokesman for Isamaa. Kase holds a bachelor's degree in history from Tallinn University.

Roose, coming from the Estonia 200 party, has worked as a middle manager for Laureate, a US education group, and as a green economy cooperation advisor for the Dutch government in the Baltics and Finland. She is an expert on the circular economy and an advisor to green technology companies. Roose holds a master's degree in economics from the University of Liverpool.

Jasin holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Tartu, has participated in an education advocacy program and has worked as a language immersion teacher in East-Viru County. He has also worked as an education expert and as a project manager for humanitarian aid in Ukraine for the NGO Mondo. Jasin holds a master's degree in educational management from Tallinn University.