Vaino says communications advisers help presidential candidates withstand scrutiny

Presidential candidates face such intense scrutiny that they need communications support to ensure their statements are carefully considered and clearly worded, broadcaster ERR reported, citing trainer and presenter Urmas Vaino.

Speaking on ERR’s Radio 2 programme “R2 Hommik!”, Vaino said members of parliament wanted debate, regardless of whether a candidate was universally popular.

“People are waiting for answers to certain questions: why we live the way we do and whether anything can be done about it,” Vaino said.

He said he had saved enough money this summer to travel to Sweden with his family, where he noticed that coffee costing between 12 and 19 euros in Tallinn could be bought for five or six euros. Vaino said there was too little discussion about why Estonia was probably one of Europe’s most expensive countries.

Vaino added that politicians currently in power were not particularly popular when it came to explaining issues. “People do not want to listen to them and are waiting for the elections,” he said.

In his view, presidential candidates Ülle Madise and Tiit Land were emotionally quite similar as people: calm and considered, with occasional humour and light teasing.

Vaino said Land regularly called many people, including him. He had met Land regarding the presidential election and seen texts Land had written, but said he was not employed by him.

Vaino said it was logical for a candidate to have many people around them during such a vulnerable period. He believed Madise had disclosed that she was being advised by the Põim Kama agency partly to prevent journalists or politicians from suggesting that Janar Filippov was secretly handling her social media activity and messages.

“Everyone is looking at you, and in the evening they discuss at home what they think of you,” Vaino said. He added that candidates needed their words to be considered by several people, not only artificial intelligence, and expressed precisely so that they reflected what they actually wanted to say.

Vaino said the main problem with the presidential election was the system that had been established. The election takes place in summer, when public attention and the number of topics in newsrooms are somewhat lower, he said. In addition, a candidate needs 68 votes, making it almost impossible to elect one in the Riigikogu, Estonia’s parliament.

He said candidates could therefore be obstructed unless a compromise candidate was introduced or agreements were reached behind the scenes. Vaino said he hoped opportunities would arise for voters to hear Madise and whoever becomes her opposing candidate debate.