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President Ilves: you have the opportunity to choose, so make your choice

19.10.2009

The President of the Republic’s answer to the BNS news agency in connection with the local elections.

BNS: The press has directed attention to studies that show that the reputation of politicians and political parties is low in Estonia and elsewhere in Europe; that political campaigns are sometimes devoid of content and ethically questionable. Under these circumstances, why should Estonian residents vote in the elections for local government councils?

President Toomas Hendrik Ilves: Today, we are choosing the future of our home municipalities and hometowns for the next four years. This is not a vote of confidence for the government or the political parties. Find candidates in the list of candidates that you trust, and who you believe are capable of managing local life honestly, and give them your vote. You have the opportunity to choose, so make your choice. A solemn and exacting attitude on the part of the voters – also today on Election Day – will help to improve the governance of local life, the governance of Estonia as a whole. Every vote counts. Do not relinquish your vote and do not let others make the choice for you. This would be the unfair neglect of your home municipality or hometown.

BACKGROUND
President Ilves voted in the elections for local government councils in Estonia on October 14th, by voting electronically in Macedonia at the Estonian Honorary Consulate in Skopje. He told journalists at that time, “Internet voting is the best way for people who are far from home to security cast their votes. As you can see, there is no difference whether I am in Abja, Tallinn or thousands of miles away when I cost my vote for the Abja Council.”

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