The entire Estonian Greens party board chose to resign at the end of March after winning just 1% of the vote in recent Riigikogu elections. The Greens were below the 5 percent threshold needed to win seats, but also below the 2% level needed to receive state support.
Members of the Estonian Greens held a general assembly on Saturday, with the aim of electing a new council, board and leaders. There are three candidates running for the post of party leader, namely Marko Kaasik, Mihkel Kangur and Evelyn Sepp.
The Estonian Greens hope to attract new members and involve people willing to support the party financially in the near future.
In recent times, the Estonian Greens have generally elected two people to assume the joint leadership of the party.
Sepp, who was a member of the Center Party until 2014, has also been a Riigikogu MP on three occasions. In the last elections, he received 130 votes while running for the Greens.
Current chairman Marko Kaasik said the board decided to resign not so much because of the Greens’ poor election result, but to give other members a chance to shape the party.
“I didn’t see the election result as anything too dramatic, as we’ve had a lot of new members in recent weeks. I believe there are active people among them, and we’ve decided to give new people the chance to come forward and be part of the board,” Kaassik said.
Riin Ehin, Marti Soosaar, Tuula Raidna, Marek Mühlberg, Johanna Maria Tõugu, Rene Kuulmann, Ave Mets, Rasmus Lahtvee, Alina Lerner-Vilu are all candidates for the party board and support Evelyn Sepp and Mihkel Kangur. Timur Sagitov is also a candidate for the board of directors.
The general assembly will also see a debate from the presidential candidates on “Estonia’s green transition over the next ten years and the role of the Greens in it.
English (Canada) 
Français