Kallas adviser quits Eesti 200 to join Social Democrats

Daniel Kõiv, a longtime adviser to Education and Research Minister Kristina Kallas, is joining the Social Democratic Party and will run in the parliamentary elections in Tartu, ERR reported Saturday.

Kõiv, a member of Tartu City Council who is studying political science at the University of Tartu, will leave his job as Kallas’s adviser at his own request on October 25, the party said. According to the business register, he left Eesti 200 on Saturday, October 17. He joined the party in November 2021.

Kõiv said he was joining the Social Democrats to oppose conservative forces. “In the spring, Estonia faces a fundamental choice: do we move forward as a Nordic society that looks to the future, or go back to a past where young people’s needs are ignored, personal freedoms are restricted and the climate crisis is turned away from?” he said in a statement. “The only credible liberal alternative to conservative reaction today is the Social Democrats.”

Eesti 200 has polled at around 2% for several months, according to recent surveys, which would leave it without seats in the new parliament to be elected on March 7. Members are divided over whether the party should contest the election, join another political force or pause its activity. Several members have said they will leave politics or have quit the party. Eesti 200’s future is expected to become clearer at a party council meeting on Sunday.

In recent weeks, former European Commissioner and long-serving MP Kadri Simson, former Tallinn deputy mayor for education Aleksei Jašin, actor and photographer Liina Raud, Narva-Jõesuu Mayor Maksim Iljin, Lääne-Harju municipality head Jaanus Saat and Mulgi municipality head Imre Jugomäe have also joined the Social Democrats or announced plans to run on the party’s ticket.