In Estonia, the former vice-mayor of the country’s third largest city has been suspended from the post of a city councillor as investigators will probe alleged vote-buying before the recent local elections, Estonian public broadcaster ERR reports.
In the October 17 election in the city of Narva, Sergei Gorlatš, the politician now in the centre of the investigation, came second in his electoral list with 408 votes.
The politician, a former Narva vice-mayor, is alleged to have invited around 40 Narva residents to an election week day out, which took in a spa visit, picnic, guided walk and transport, at his own expense. It is alleged that the group of people were induced to then cast an e-vote in his favour, which around half of them did, according to reports.
Read also: Washington supports Lithuania-Taiwan relations – Nausėda convinced by Biden
Gorlatš has this week denied any wrongdoing and agreed to cooperate with law enforcement. «In effect, I started with that yesterday. I will continue to do so until the whole truth has been made clear, so I have to step down during the course of the investigation,» ERR quoted Gorlatš as saying.
Estonian city councillor suspended as part of investigation over alleged vote-buying
