Expert: Next Estonian president to be determined by Russian electors

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At the forthcoming presidential elections on September 23, the main role in the electoral college will be played by Russian electors, whose votes can be decisive, Chair of Narva City Assembly, participant of a session of the electoral college, member of the Centrist Party Mikhail Stalnukhin has said in an interview to a REGNUM correspondent on September 20. At the same time, he excludes a possibility of grafting “Russian votes” in favor of one candidate, as it happened before, when varios coalitions were formed at local administrations in recent years: “Mistakes are made to learn from them and never to repeat them.”

Stalnukhin believes that Russian electors will mostly vote for current President Arnold Ruutel and explains their choice by pressure exerted by the rightist media upon him: “I am not a Ruutel supporter, but looking at how boldly and cynically the rightists are attacking the president, I have a strong wish not to succumb to this blackmailing. It is in the Russian mentality to resist to brute and violent force.”

Overall, 347 people are members of the electoral college, 101 of them are members of parliament, 246 representatives of local administrations. There 19 so-called Russian electors in the list made public by the republican election commission. Eight are members of parliament, five represent north-east Estonia, four are from Tallinn, by one are from Harju and Tartu districts. Up to the present moment, Ruutel’s candidature is supported by 160 electors; 150 support the candidature of Toomas Hendrik Ilves, ETV24 news portal reports. Neither of the candidates has the decisive advantage.