TALLINN, June 14 (RIA Novosti's Nikolai Adashkevich) - Georgy Bystrov, nominated by Estonia's Russian community as their candidate to the EU Parliament, has received 6,183 votes in the parliamentary ballot over the weekend. This may be too little for a seat in the European legislature, but Mr. Bystrov is upbeat anyway-he says the result indicates that people in Estonia are willing to support Russian-speaking politicians.
Mr. Bystrov has come in seventh on Estonia's candidate list, which included 95 people. He says he could have performed better if the voter turnout had been higher, but believes that the outcome is good enough, given the scarce financial and administrative resources at his disposal.
Mr. Bystrov, who is incumbent mayor of the Estonian city of Maardu, has now begun preparations for a mayoral ballot next fall. His showing at the EU parliament polls gives him every reason to hope his reelection as mayor will be a success.
