Arras tells Kõlvart to read Estonia’s Constitution

Political communications expert Annika Arras told ERR that Centre Party leader Mihhail Kõlvart cannot prevent members of the party’s parliamentary group from taking part in Estonia’s presidential election, after he said the party would not attend the vote in the Riigikogu, Estonia’s parliament.

“The party leader cannot forbid any member of parliament from participating in the presidential election. In this case, I would recommend that Mihhail Kõlvart read the Constitution,” Arras said on the programme “Otse uudistemajast”.

The presidential election has again prompted discussion about direct elections for the head of state. Arras said a direct vote would be more interesting than the current parliamentary procedure because candidates would have reason to travel around Estonia, introduce themselves and speak with voters. She also said there would likely be more opinion polling.

Arras acknowledged concerns about possible foreign interference in direct presidential elections, but said the same concern applied to parliamentary and local elections. She said there was no particularly compelling reason why direct presidential elections could not be held, describing the issue as a matter for debate and choice.

She said the transparency and culture of presidential elections depended on politicians and would not automatically change if the voting system were amended. Candidates could be nominated earlier, questioned publicly and take part in debates on Estonia’s national broadcaster and other media outlets, she said. That would give voters a better understanding of the people they were electing in parliament.

Arras said it was difficult for someone outside the faction to know exactly why Isamaa had decided to support Ülle Madise’s candidacy. However, she said reports suggested that Madise had made a convincing impression during a meeting with the faction, persuading enough members that she would be a suitable president for Estonia.

According to Arras, this showed that the presidential election was personally important to members of parliament and that traditional party discipline was difficult to maintain in the vote. She said discipline in the Estonian Conservative People’s Party, or EKRE, was probably stronger because dissenters had been expelled from the party.

Arras said the presidential election would affect next spring’s parliamentary elections, but should not determine their outcome. Five or six months remained before the parliamentary vote, she said, meaning that the results were not yet decided.

She added that parties supporting Madise would gain politically if she were elected, including the Social Democrats, who had first brought her candidacy to public attention.