Narva opposition calls self-organised council session to force power change

Narva city council opposition has been unable to pass no-confidence votes against the council chairman and mayor, as council speaker Mihhail Stalnuhhin has repeatedly cancelled sessions and rejected motions. Frustrated opposition members are now convening a self-organised session next Monday to accelerate a change of power.

The opposition on Narva City Council is taking matters into its own hands, announcing a self-organised extraordinary session scheduled for next Monday in a bid to break the political deadlock that has paralysed the Estonian border city's municipal government.

Opposition councillors have been attempting for some time to remove both the council chairman and the mayor through no-confidence votes, but their efforts have been systematically blocked. Council speaker Mihhail Stalnuhhin has repeatedly cancelled scheduled sessions and refused to allow no-confidence motions to proceed, leaving the opposition without a legal avenue to force a vote through the normal council mechanism.

By convening an independent session outside the standard procedural framework, opposition members are hoping to find a way to accelerate the change of leadership in Narva. The move reflects the deepening political tensions in Estonia's third-largest city, where the struggle for control of city hall has dragged on without resolution.

The situation in Narva has drawn wider attention in Estonia, as the city's governance has long been a sensitive political issue given its location on the Russian border and its predominantly Russian-speaking population. The opposition's unconventional step signals that the conflict between rival political factions has reached a new and more confrontational stage.