Estonian entrepreneur Urmas Sõõrumaa has withdrawn his candidacy for mayor of Tallinn, ERR reports. Earlier, Sõõrumaa proposed forming a technocratic city government that would follow guidelines from the Estonian Reform Party and the Estonian Centre Party (Keskerakond) until the local elections in October 2025. Reform’s current coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party (SDE), accused Reform…
The Estonian Reform Party and the Estonian Centre Party (Keskerakond) will topple Tallinn’s current city government next week, incumbent mayor Jevgeni Ossinovski of the Social Democratic Party (SDE) said, ERR reports. He accused Reform’s mayoral candidate, businessman Urmas Sõõrumaa, of holding token talks with other parties to obscure the party’s plan to form a new…
Over half of Latvian municipalities have new mayors following local elections on 7 June 2025, LETA reports. Municipal councils elected altogether 22 new chairpersons, while 20 incumbent mayors remained in office. Political groups that received the most votes failed to secure the mayorship in 12 municipalities, including in Riga, Jelgava, and Ventspils. In some municipalities,…
The Estonian Reform Party’s candidate for mayor of Tallinn, businessman Urmas Sõõrumaa, wants to form a technocratic city government with no executive politicians, like in Helsinki, ERR reports. At the same time, he said that the new city government would follow guidelines from Reform and the Estonian Centre Party. He insisted that the city had…
Latvia’s national air carrier, airBaltic, has no plans to ask the government for more money, CEO Martin Gauss stated, LSM reports. Speaking in an interview with LTV, Gauss said that the company had to raise additional capital from international investors on the stock market instead. Earlier, Klavs Vasks, chairman of airBaltic’s supervisory board, surmised that…
The Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (LVZS) will elect a new chairperson for the opposition party on 1 March 2025, ELTA reports. The party’s long-time leader, Ramunas Karbauskis, has not disclosed if he intends to run for another four-year term. He has led LVZS and its predecessor parties since 1997. LVZS suffered a heavy defeat…
Latvia will hold local elections to municipal councils on 7 June 2025, the Central Election Commission (CVK) announced, LSM reports. The elections will use newly designed ballot papers, ensuring automatic counting of votes. Voters can indicate both support and opposition to individual candidates on the ballot.
Five candidates are running to lead Lithuania’s conservative opposition party, Homeland Union (TS-LKD), for the next four years, BNS reports. The five candidates are the party’s acting chairwoman, former education minister Radvile Morkunaite-Mikuleniene, former defence ministers Arvydas Anusauskas and Laurynas Kasciunas, MP Zygimantas Pavilionis, and the chairman of the party’s local branch in Jurbarkas, Daivaras…
Lithuania’s far-right Dawn of Nemunas party was the country’s most popular political party in the first public poll conducted after the recent parliamentary elections, ELTA reports. Baltijos Tyrimai’s survey in early November 2024 showed that the Dawn of Nemunas had 15% support, which was up sharply from just 8% in August 2024. The Lithuanian Social…