Andres Sutt to leave ministerial post and skip parliamentary election

Estonian Energy and Environment Minister Andres Sutt of the Reform Party has announced that he will not run in the next Riigikogu elections and will therefore step down from the government, ERR reported.

“In the autumn before elections, people always ask who is running. This time, my answer is no,” Sutt wrote on social media.

Sutt said ministers traditionally run in elections, so he believed it was appropriate to make room for the next candidate and return to the Riigikogu himself.

He said he would help complete energy and environmental bills currently under consideration in parliament and would continue to contribute to discussions on financial and monetary issues. He also pledged to support the Reform Party and the next minister with advice.

Sutt said the decision had been considered for a long time and took shape during the middle of the summer. He said he wanted to return to professional work and had several ideas and the motivation to pursue them.

“I have considered two terms to be the right time to move on,” Sutt said, adding that eight years in politics, across two consecutive Riigikogu terms and two ministerial roles, as well as a brief third role, had been demanding and instructive.

He said he would remain in national politics until the end of his Riigikogu mandate, stay a member of the Reform Party and continue working for Estonia.

Sutt has been a Reform Party member since August 15, 2018. Before entering politics, he worked for a long time at Eesti Pank, Estonia’s central bank, serving as its deputy governor from 2001 to 2009.