Mois resigned on May 31 under pressure from coalition partners, handing in his resignation minutes before a no-confidence vote on him was scheduled to begin. He held the mayoral post for 20 months.
Drawing on one of the controversial issues that helped get him thrown out of office, Mois said his party, the Pro Patria Union, could cooperate with the opposition, led by the Center Party, after the next municipal elections. "Sooner or later cooperation will begin. It's impossible to ignore a faction that has about 45 percent of the votes," said Mois.
Palts, 48, is the president of Levicom Broadband, the third largest mobile communications operator in Estonia, and is a business heavyweight like Mois, a former head of Hansabank.
Palts has never been a member of any party, but agreed to enter the Pro Patria Union to get his hands on the mayor's job. He has been a member of Pro Patria's "business club" since 1994.
He was on a business trip to the United States when representatives of the Pro Patria Union called him on the evening of June 29. Palts immediately flew back to Tallinn.
In an interview with the daily newspaper Postimees on May 31, Palts said that if elected mayor he would try to ease political tensions in the city administration. According to Jaak Juske, the Moderate Party's Tallinn adviser, the Moderates fully support Palts and think it is necessary to keep the three-party coalition together.
The City Council coalition includes the Reform Party, the Moderates and the Pro Patria Union as its main members, and the Democratic Party and Russian factions of People's Choice and People's Trust are the lightweight coalition partners.
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