The candidate for mayor from the Centre Party, which holds a majority in the city council, was Max Kaur, who previously worked as vice elder of Lüganuse Municipality. The opposition nominated Virve Linder as its mayoral candidate; she held the position from 2022 to 2023.
“As I have said before, this is already, let’s say, the third city that I am governing. And in all the cities where I have been — in the Peipus region, in Mustvee, in Jõhvi, or in other towns — there has always been a certain degree of success. And today, of course, if the Centre Party has received such a mandate of trust, then we certainly must move forward. As I said, according to the Centre Party’s four-year program,” Kaur told Aktuaalne Kaamera.
Opposition councillor Janek Pahka, however, does not consider Max Kaur to be a good mayor. “Let’s put it this way: not everyone, even within the Centre Party itself, agrees that Maks Kaur is a suitable candidate. Personally, I do not want this mayor to do anything here. In my opinion, he has been in too many local governments, and the feedback from those places has mostly been negative. Therefore, I do not think he is a good mayor for our city,” he said.
Thirteen members of the city council voted for Kaur, while 11 deputies voted for Linder. This means that someone from the Centre Party did not vote for Kaur. In total, the Kohtla-Järve City Council has 25 members.
In the most recent municipal elections, Kaur was also elected as a member of the Narva-Jõesuu City Council. The law allows combining work in the representative body of one local government with a position in the executive authority of another.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Kaur stated that he does not plan to run in the upcoming Riigikogu elections.
From November 2023, the mayor of Kohtla-Järve had been Henri Kaselo (Social Democratic Party).
At Kaur’s proposal, the following deputy mayors were appointed: Lyudmila Latt (education and culture), Aleksandr Keivabu (development and economy), and Evelin Danilov (social affairs). Fifteen deputies voted in favor of approving the new city government, while eight voted against.
Keivabu and Danilov had held these positions previously, while Latt replaced Alevtina Yermakova.
The next city council meeting is scheduled for Thursday, December 18. The first meeting of the city council took place on December 3. Sergei Lopin, nominated by the Centre Party, was elected as the new chairman of the council. His deputy became Ivetta Sakkart, also from the Centre Party.
In the elections held in October in Kohtla-Järve, the Centre Party won 14 out of 25 mandates, the electoral alliance Restart won seven mandates, the Koos party won three, and one mandate went to the Social Democratic Party.
Editor: Viktor Solts
Source: Aktuaalne Kaamera
