Social Dems: Russian Votes Needed for 2015 Election Win

29. 2011

The chairman of the opposition Social Democratic Party, Sven Mikser, has said that courting the Russian minority vote would be the key to gaining power in the next round of parliamentary elections.

“Our goal is to win the parliamentary elections in 2015,” Mikser told Delfi. “It’s clear that in order to do that, it’s necessary to get additional support from both Estonian-speaking and Russian-speaking voters. If we are able to garner every third vote for the Social Dems from Estonian speakers and every third from Russian speakers, then we can consider ourselves to have made a step forward and achieved our goal,” he said.

Though traditionally the opposition Centre Party has enjoyed a near monopoly on political support by the nation’s ethnic Russian minority, the Social Democrats have lately been making obvious moves to court that portion of the electorate. Earlier this month they entered into merger negotiations with the Russian Party in Estonia, a small, marginal party focusing on minority issues.

This autumn, polls showed that popular support for the Social Democratic Party had increased, allowing it to edge out the Centre Party as the second most popular in the nation.

http://news.err.ee/politics/44e10b8b-1415-4989-aab1-ebeb18e5189d

Mikser: New State Budget Creates Gap Between State, Citizens

13. 2011

The next year’s state budget, which passed in Parliament on December 7, is pushing the state further away from its citizens, said Sven Mikser, chairman of the opposition’s Social Democratic Party.

Mikser said the state is investing money only to receive praise from Brussels, often leaving its own people in the dark. He added that as a result people start seeking better opportunities abroad.

The coalition did not support the ideas proposed by the opposition during the drafting of the budget, said Mikser.

According to him, the Social Democrats wanted to triple the current 19-euro child benefit, provide more student aids in universities together with increasing the salaries of grade school teachers.

The 2012 state budget, based on the 3 percent growth scenario, passed in Parliament yesterday by a vote of 55-44. Spending in the social sector will increase by 10 percent.

http://news.err.ee/Politics/97dbd303-e21e-43d4-986c-e16efed34a31

Social Dems to Start Merger Negotiations with Russian Party

13. 2011

The Social Democrats have decided to start merger negotiations with the Russian Party in Estonia and are expecting to reach an agreement by mid-January.

“We have decided to take the next step,” Sven Mikser, chairman of the party told ERR radio, adding that currently the party is drafting the initial merger agreement.

Mikser told Postimees that the party had considered all possible accession risks and arrived at the conclusion that reducing polarization among different communities was necessary for the future of Estonian politics.

The programs of the political organizations have enough common ground for future cooperation, Mikser said. “To dispel all fears, I would like to say that the party will not become radical or, as some would like to think, pro-Russian,” he added.

The heads of the parties met for the first time on November 28 and decided to start cooperation negotiations, not ruling out the possibility of merging.

http://news.err.ee/politics/de014393-4feb-48dc-8e52-7e5380330820