Estonian parliamentary election, 2015

Last updated
Estonian parliamentary election, 2015
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←  2011 1 March 2015 2019  →
101 seats in the Riigikogu
51 seats are needed for a majority
Turnout 64.2%

  First party Second party Third party
  RE Taavi Roivas.jpg Edgar Savisaar 2005-crop.jpg SDE Sven Mikser.jpg
Leader Taavi Rõivas Edgar Savisaar Sven Mikser
Party Reform Centre Social Democratic
Last election 33 seats, 28.6% 26 seats, 23.3% 19 seats, 17.1%
Seats won 30 27 15
Seat changeDecrease2.svg3Increase2.svg1Decrease2.svg4
Popular vote 158,970 142,458 87,189
Percentage 27.7% 24.8% 15.2%
Swing 0.9% Decrease2.svg 1.5% Increase2.svg 1.9% Decrease2.svg
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
  IRL Urmas Reinsalu.jpg IRL Andres Herkel.jpg Mart Helme.jpg
Leader Urmas Reinsalu Andres Herkel Mart Helme
Party Pro Patria and Res Publica Free Conservative People's
Last election 23 seats, 20.5%Did not stand no seats, 2.1%
Seats won 14 8 7
Seat changeDecrease2.svg9Increase2.svg8Increase2.svg7
Popular vote 78,699 49,882 46,772
Percentage 13.7% 8.7% 8.1%
Swing 6.8% Decrease2.svgNew party 6.0% Increase2.svg

Estonian Election 2015 Largest Party By Electoral Districts.png

Largest party by electoral district (Yellow-Reform) (Green-Centre)
Prime Minister before election

Taavi Rõivas
Reform

Elected Prime Minister

Taavi Rõivas
Reform

Parliamentary elections were held in Estonia on 1 March 2015. Advance voting was held between 19 and 25 February with a turnout of 33 percent. [1] The results were a victory for the ruling Reform Party.

Estonia Republic in Northern Europe

Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland with Finland on the other side, to the west by the Baltic Sea with Sweden on the other side, to the south by Latvia (343 km), and to the east by Lake Peipus and Russia (338.6 km). The territory of Estonia consists of a mainland and 2,222 islands in the Baltic Sea, covering a total area of 45,227 km2 (17,462 sq mi), water 2,839 km2 (1,096 sq mi), land area 42,388 km2 (16,366 sq mi), and is influenced by a humid continental climate. The official language of the country, Estonian, is the second most spoken Finnic language.

Contents

Background

This was the first election since the resignation of Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, who relinquished his position after holding the office for almost nine years. Following the resignation, a new coalition comprising the Estonian Reform Party and the Estonian Social Democrats were authorized to form a new government on 24 March 2014 with 34-year-old Taavi Rõivas as the new Prime Minister. This replaced the prior coalition of the Estonian Reform Party and the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union. [2]

Andrus Ansip Estonian chemist and politician

Andrus Ansip is an Estonian politician, the current European Commissioner for Digital Single Market and Vice President of the European Commission, in office since 2014. Previously, he was Prime Minister of Estonia from 2005 to 2014 and chairman of the liberal Estonian Reform Party from 2004 to 2014.

Estonian Reform Party political party from Estonia

The Estonian Reform Party is a liberal political party in Estonia. The party is led by Kaja Kallas and has 34 members in the 101-member Riigikogu, making it the largest party in the legislature.

The Social Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in Estonia, currently led by Jevgeni Ossinovski.

Electoral system

The 101 members of the Riigikogu were elected by proportional representation in twelve multi-member constituencies. The seats were allocated using a modified D'Hondt method. Parties had to pass a nationwide threshold of 5%, but if the number of votes cast for an individual candidate exceeded or equalled the simple quota (obtained by dividing the number of valid votes cast in the electoral district by the number of mandates in the district), they were elected.

Riigikogu parliament of Estonia

The Riigikogu is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. All important state-related questions pass through the Riigikogu. In addition to approving legislation, the Riigikogu appoints high officials, including the Prime Minister and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and elects the President. The Riigikogu also ratifies significant foreign treaties that impose military and proprietary obligations, bring about changes in law, etc.; approves the budget presented by the government as law and monitors the executive power.

Proportional representation (PR) characterizes electoral systems in which divisions in an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. If n% of the electorate support a particular political party, then roughly n% of seats will be won by that party. The essence of such systems is that all votes contribute to the result - not just a plurality, or a bare majority. The most prevalent forms of proportional representation all require the use of multiple-member voting districts, as it is not possible to fill a single seat in a proportional manner. In fact, the implementations of PR that achieve the highest levels of proportionality tend to include districts with large numbers of seats.

The D'Hondt method or the Jefferson method is a highest averages method for allocating seats, and is thus a type of party-list proportional representation. The method described is named in the United States after Thomas Jefferson, who introduced the method for proportional allocation of seats in the United States House of Representatives in 1791, and in Europe after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt, who described it in 1878 for proportional allocation of parliamentary seats to the parties. There are two forms: closed list and an open list.

Seats by electoral district

#Electoral DistrictSeats
1 Haabersti, Põhja-Tallinn and Kristiine districts in Tallinn 9
2 Kesklinn, Lasnamäe and Pirita districts in Tallinn 12
3 Mustamäe and Nõmme districts in Tallinn 8
4 Harju (without Tallinn) and Rapla counties14
5 Hiiu, Lääne and Saare counties6
6 Lääne-Viru county5
7 Ida-Viru county7
8 Järva and Viljandi counties7
9 Jõgeva and Tartu counties (without city of Tartu)8
10City of Tartu 8
11 Võru, Valga and Põlva counties9
12 Pärnu county8

Opinion polls

Poll results are listed in the table below in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first. The highest percentage figure in each poll is displayed in bold, and the background shaded in the leading party's color. In the instance that there is a tie, then no figure is shaded.

Date Polling Firm Ref Kesk IRL SDE Green EKRE EVA Others Lead
1 Mar 2015 Election Results 27.7 24.8 13.7 15.2 0.9 8.1 8.7 0.9 2.9
23–26 Feb 2015 TNS Emor 26 22 16 19 - 6 10 1 4
Feb 2015 Turu-uuringute AS 2227 16 18 - 6 6 5 5
11–18 Feb 2015 TNS Emor 23 22 14 20 2 9 9 1 1
Jan 2015 Turu-uuringute AS 2226 15 16 - 6 6 9 4
Jan 2015 TNS Emor 25 22 15 18 2 5 8 4 3
Dec 2014 Turu-uuringute AS 2627 15 19 3 4 1 4 1
Dec 2014 TNS Emor 32 23 16 21 2 2 1 3 9
Nov 2014 TNS Emor 29 22 18 22 4 2 2 1 7
Oct 2014 TNS Emor 2727 16 19 3 3 2 3 0
Sep 2014 TNS Emor 27 26 18 23 3 2Did not exist 1 1
Aug 2014 TNS Emor 29 25 15 26 1 4 0 4
Jul 2014 TNS Emor 31 24 16 24 1 3 1 7
Jun 2014 TNS Emor 31 24 14 25 2 2 2 7
May 2014 TNS Emor 29 24 15 27 3 2 2 2
Apr 2014 TNS Emor 25 22 1928 1 3 2 3
26 March 2014 Taavi Rõivas' cabinet is sworn in
Mar 2014 TNS Emor 2427 16 26 2 2 3 1
Feb 2014 TNS Emor 2127 19 26 2 2 3 1
Jan 2014 TNS Emor 2425 22 23 2 2 2 1
Dec 2013 TNS Emor 1932 20 23 3 2 1 9
Nov 2013 TNS Emor 1829 22 23 2 3 3 7
Oct 2013 TNS Emor 2229 20 20 1 4 4 7
Sep 2013 TNS Emor 2129 18 23 4 3 2 6
Aug 2013 TNS Emor 2026 14 25 5 4 6 1
Jul 2013 TNS Emor 2428 14 26 3 2 3 2
Jun 2013 TNS Emor 2428 14 26 2 3 3 2
May 2013 TNS Emor 2426 1526 2 3 4 0
Apr 2013 TNS Emor 25 24 1327 3 3 5 2
Mar 2013 TNS Emor 25 26 1527 3 1 3 1
Feb 2013 TNS Emor 2326 1726 4 2 2 0
Jan 2013 TNS Emor 2028 16 27 5 2 2 1
Dec 2012 TNS Emor 22 24 1828 3 1 4 4
Nov 2012 TNS Emor 26 23 17 25 3 1 5 1
Oct 2012 TNS Emor 32 25 13 22 4 1 3 7
Sep 2012 TNS Emor 33 24 11 24 4 0 4 9
Aug 2012 TNS Emor 39 20 13 20 3 1 4 19
Jul 2012 TNS Emor 34 22 15 25 2 1 4 1
Jun 2012 TNS Emor 31 23 14 24 4 0 4 7
May 2012 TNS Emor 30 19 17 29 3 0 2 1
Apr 2012 TNS Emor 27 25 1329 3 0 3 2
Mar 2012 TNS Emor 29 23 1230 2 3 1 1
Feb 2012 TNS Emor 28 26 14 22 5 4 1 2
Jan 2012 TNS Emor 30 27 13 19 4 3 4 3
Dec 2011 TNS Emor 33 22 16 22 4 2 1 11
Nov 2011 TNS Emor 31 23 16 24 4 2 1 7
Oct 2011 TNS Emor 32 20 16 23 4 2 3 9
Sep 2011 TNS Emor 31 24 16 22 4 2 1 7
Aug 2011 TNS Emor 29 21 18 24 3 3 2 5
Jul 2011 TNS Emor 31 21 15 24 3 2 4 7
Jun 2011 TNS Emor 33 22 13 21 5 2 4 7
May 2011 TNS Emor 33 20 17 22 4 1 3 11
Apr 2011 TNS Emor 31 22 19 19 5 1 3 9
6 Mar 2011 Election Results 28.6 23.3 20.5 17.1 3.8 2.1 4,6 5.3

Results

Riigikogu.svg
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Estonian Reform Party 158,97027.730–3
Estonian Centre Party 142,45824.827+1
Social Democratic Party 87,18915.215–4
Pro Patria and Res Publica Union 78,69913.714–9
Free Party 49,8828.78New
Conservative People's Party 46,7728.17+7
Estonian Greens 5,1930.900
Party of People's Unity2,2890.40New
Estonian Independence Party 1,0470.200
Estonian United Left Party 7640.10New
Independents8870.200
Invalid/blank votes3,760–––
Total577,9101001010
Registered voters/turnout899,79364.2––
Source: VVK
Vote Share
REF
 
27.7%
Kesk
 
24.8%
S.D.E.
 
15.2%
IRL
 
13.7%
EVA
 
8.7%
EKRE
 
8.1%
Other
 
1.8%
Seat Share
REF
 
29.7%
Kesk
 
26.7%
S.D.E.
 
14.9%
IRL
 
13.9%
EVA
 
7.9%
EKRE
 
6.9%

Aftermath

The Reform Party started coalition talks with the Social Democrats, Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL) and the Free Party. [3] After nearly three weeks of negotiations, the Free Party left the coalition talks due to disagreements with the Reform Party and the IRL. [4] The three remaining parties signed the coalition treaty on 8 April, and the cabinet took office on 9 April. [5]

Taavi Rõivas second cabinet

Taavi Rõivas' second cabinet was the cabinet of Estonia, in office from 9 April 2015 to 23 November 2016. It is a coalition cabinet of liberal centre-right Estonian Reform Party, Social Democratic Party and conservative Pro Patria and Res Publica Union.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Record number of e-votes given in ongoing elections ERR, 26 February 2015
  2. ↑ Estonian politics enters uncertain new era Dateline Baltics, 14 April 2014
  3. ↑ Coalition consultations begin with four parties in attendance ERR, 6 March 2015
  4. ↑ Coalition talks to continue between three parties, Free Party to go into opposition ERR, 23 March 2015
  5. ↑ "Otseülekanne: kolme erakonna koalitsioonileping saab allkirjad". Postimees. 8 April 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
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