Vaga says defence minister decision pushed Vseviov toward Social Democrats

Reform Party secretary-general Kristo Enn Vaga said Jonatan Vseviov was offended after the party chose Martin Herem for defence minister, a decision that may have helped lead Vseviov to join the Social Democratic Party, ERR reported.

Vaga told Äripäev that Reform had spoken with Vseviov both while considering candidates for president and after Hanno Pevkur resigned as defence minister. The party asked whether Vseviov would be willing to discuss taking the role, and received a positive response, Vaga said.

Reform ultimately chose Herem, the former commander of Estonia’s Defence Forces. Vaga said he believed Herem was the right choice for Estonia’s defence policy, but added that Vseviov may have felt some resentment. “That may also have been the deciding factor in why he went to the Social Democrats,” Vaga said.

Vaga said Reform had also approached Vseviov in the summer, when it was looking for a presidential candidate and considered him a strong option. For that reason, he said, he doubted Social Democratic Party leader Lauri Läänemets’s claim that Vseviov had decided to join the party in the summer.

Läänemets told ERR on Thursday that the Social Democrats had reached an agreement with Vseviov in the summer for him to join the party, run in parliamentary elections and become its prime ministerial candidate. He said Vseviov had not been discussed within the party as a possible presidential candidate. The party announced its support for Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise in July and had earlier considered other candidates, including Sven Mikser, Läänemets said. He added that only Reform and Estonia 200 had presented Vseviov as a possible presidential candidate.

Tags: Estonia, Reform Party, Social Democratic Party