“Confidence that the Center Party will be able to implement the guidelines of the program has disappeared,” Ratas explained his decision at the press conference.
“My desire and calling is to continue doing politics,” Ratas said.
“And I will continue to do it in the ranks of the “Motherland” party,” said the former leader of the Center Party.
Both the Center Party and “Tēvzeme” are currently in opposition in the parliament.
It is expected that Ratas from the list of “Fatherland” will run in the upcoming European Parliament elections in June.
“We will consider it on the agenda, but I would definitely be happy if Jiri Ratas was on the list of “Tēveme” in the European Parliament elections,” said “Tēvzeme” chairman Urmas Reinsalu, answering the question whether Ratas would be a “Tēvzeme” candidate in these elections.
Ratas, on the other hand, claimed that it was not important for him to be the first on the election list, but the opportunity to run for office was important.
It has already been reported that after the election of the mayor of Tallinn, Mihaila Kelvart, as the chairman of the Center Party at the Congress in September, he is being blamed for the increased orientation of the party’s policy towards the interests of Russian speakers and the increase in the influence of such pro-Kremlin politicians as Jana Tomas in the party. That is why many members have left the Center Party in recent months.
Ratas did not run for re-election as party chairman at the congress.
Of the 16 members of Rigikogu, who were elected to parliament from the list of the Center Party in the elections last March, only six have remained in the Center Party faction.
Three (Jānus Karilaids, Teniss Melders and Ratas) have gone to “Tēvzemi”, four (Tanels Kīks, Jāks Ābs, Andre Hanimegi and Estere Karuze) – to the ruling Social Democratic Party, one (Marija Jufereva-Skuratovska) – to the ruling liberal Reform Party, but two (Anna Esmā, Kersti Sarapū) are still non-partisan.
Ratas was a member of the Center Party since 2000. From 2005 to 2007, he was the mayor of Tallinn, from 2007 to 2016 – vice-speaker of Rīga Kogu, from 2016 to 2021 – prime minister, from 2021 to 2023 – chairman of Rīga Kogu.
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2024-01-29 12:20:03
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