TALLINN - Opposition parties have asked the prime minister to sack his Cabinet's environmental minister, threatening to launch a no-confidence vote in the latter, the Eesti Paevaleht daily reported.
Pro Patria and Res Publica Union's candidate prime minister, Mart Laar, and Social Democratic Party leader Ivari Padar have urged Prime Minister Andrus Ansip to immediately ask the president to dismiss Environment Minister Rein Randver.
In Padar's view, transcripts of telephone conversations between Randver and the former regional director of the State Nature Conservation Center for South Estonia, Ants Manglus, which reached the press Jan.. 11, contain clear indications of an attempt to buy an elector's vote with the promise of a land exchange deal.
Laar said that if he were prime minister, he would have already discussed looking for a new environment minister with the president. "Ansip's action again smacks of the 'legally everything is correct' situation, but that does not surprise me," he added.
