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Parliamentary elections will be held in Estonia by 7 March 2027 to elect all 101 members of the Riigikogu. Electoral district reform has been discussed for the next election. [1] [2]
Following the 2023 Estonian parliamentary election, in which the Reform Party managed to maintain its position as biggest party in parliament, its leader and incumbent Prime Minister Kaja Kallas was reconfirmed in the office, forming a coalition with the Social Democrats and Estonia 200.
In the first year, the party's performance in opinion polls suffered significantly from the party's decision to back several tax increases unpopular with the economically liberal voter base as well as due to a scandal involving party leader Kaja Kallas. In August 2023, she came under the international spotlight after it was revealed that her husband held a significant share in a transportation company, Stark Logistics, which continued business with Russia despite Kallas's previous calls for Estonian companies to cease operations in Russia in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. [3] Kallas tried to minimise the affair and ignored the calls for her resignation from her political opponents, calling the controversy a "witch-hunt". [4]
On 15 July 2024 Prime Minister Kaja Kallas submitted her resignation after being named as the presumptive High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in the von der Leyen Commission II. Her resignation triggered the immediate resignation of her entire cabinet. Kristen Michal succeeded her as Prime Minister.
After the 2023 parliamentary election, EKRE's support originally skyrocketed due to being the largest opposition party against the incumbent government, yet soon declined as voters began to see Isamaa as a more moderate, fiscally competent and unshakably pro-Ukraine alternative to the government. [5] [6]
In September 2023 Mihhail Kõlvart, then-mayor of Tallinn, won the Centre Party's leadership election. His victory marked a significant change in the party's direction, choosing to focus more on its Russophone electoral base and shifting to socially conservative and economically syncretic positions, with the party becoming seen as one specifically of the niche Russian minority concentrated in the capital Tallinn and Ida-Viru County. [7] [8] [9] As a result, in the following months the previous party leader Jüri Ratas and several other party members defected to other political forces, leaving Centre Party with one third of its initial parliamentary representation (down to only 6 MPs) and with an increasingly weaker position in opinion polls. [10] [11] [12]
In the months following the 2023 Estonian parliamentary election, Estonia 200 quickly saw its support plummet, which has mostly been attributed to various scandals and the fading of the party's image of novelty. [13]
For the first year since the last election, the Social Democrats remained the only party in the government coalition to avoid losing support in polling. This was attributed to the party members' statements on the party's policy positions, especially those of the leader of the party Lauri Läänemets, setting the Social Democrats ideologically apart from the two economically liberal parties in the coalition. Moreover, the party gained MPs and members from the defections out of the Centre Party, including seeing its number of MPs increase from 9 to 13. [14] [15]
Starting August 2023, Isamaa saw its support quickly rocket to unprecedented historic highs. [16] [17] Those gains in polling were mainly attributed to the party gaining 3 MPs and several other members defecting from the Centre Party, EKRE being seen as too extreme of an option as an alternative to the government coalition and the success of the newly elected party leader Urmas Reinsalu, and his frequent public statements on any topical issues, in attracting disgruntled Reform Party voters unhappy with its fiscal policy. [18] [19] [5] [20]
The Riigikogu is made up of 101 seats and its representatives are elected by proportional representation in twelve multi-member constituencies. [21] First, seats are to be filled in 12 constituencies of 5 to 16 seats depending on their population, and the remaining seats, known as "compensation seats", are allocated using the d'Hondt method to all parties that exceeded the 5% electoral threshold, to bring the results in terms of seats as close as possible to those of the vote of the population. [22] [23] Voters have the possibility of casting a preferential vote for one of the candidates on the list for which they are voting. [22] [23] If a candidate collects more preferential votes than the amount of the simple quotient in his constituency, they are declared elected even if the list for which they are candidate for fails to cross the 5% electoral threshold. [22] [23]
| # | Electoral district | Seats |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Haabersti, Põhja-Tallinn and Kristiine districts in Tallinn | 10 |
| 2 | Kesklinn, Lasnamäe and Pirita districts in Tallinn | 13 |
| 3 | Mustamäe and Nõmme districts in Tallinn | 8 |
| 4 | Harju (excluding Tallinn) and Rapla counties | 16 |
| 5 | Hiiu, Lääne and Saare counties | 6 |
| 6 | Lääne-Viru county | 5 |
| 7 | Ida-Viru county | 6 |
| 8 | Järva and Viljandi counties | 7 |
| 9 | Jõgeva and Tartu counties (excluding Tartu) | 7 |
| 10 | City of Tartu | 8 |
| 11 | Võru, Valga and Põlva counties | 8 |
| 12 | Pärnu county | 7 |
| Source: Eesti Rahvusringhääling [24] | ||
The table below lists parties represented in the Riigikogu before the election.
| Name | Ideology | Leader | 2023 result | Current seats | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | Seats | |||||
| Reform Party Eesti Reformierakond | Liberalism (Estonian) | Kristen Michal | 31.2% | 37 / 101 | 39 / 101 | |
| Conservative People's Party Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond | Ultranationalism | Martin Helme | 16.1% | 17 / 101 | 11 / 101 | |
| Centre Party Eesti Keskerakond | Populism | Mihhail Kõlvart | 15.3% | 16 / 101 | 7 / 101 | |
| Estonia 200 Eesti 200 | Liberalism | Kristina Kallas | 13.3% | 14 / 101 | 13 / 101 | |
| Social Democratic Party Sotsiaaldemokraatlik Erakond | Social democracy | Lauri Läänemets | 9.3% | 9 / 101 | 14 / 101 | |
| Isamaa | National conservatism | Urmas Reinsalu | 8.2% | 8 / 101 | 9 / 101 | |
| Nationalists and Conservatives Eesti Rahvuslased ja Konservatiivid | National conservatism | Silver Kuusik | Did not exist | 3 / 101 | ||
The Estonian Centre Party is a populist political party in Estonia. It was founded in 1991 as a direct successor of the Popular Front of Estonia, and it is currently led by Mihhail Kõlvart.
The Estonian Reform Party is a liberal political party in Estonia. The party has been led by Kaja Kallas since 2018. It is colloquially known as the "Squirrel Party", referencing its logo.
The Social Democratic Party is a centre-left political party in Estonia. It is currently led by Lauri Läänemets. The party was formerly known as the Moderate People's Party. The SDE has been a member of the Party of European Socialists since 16 May 2003 and was a member of the Socialist International from November 1990 to 2017. It is orientated towards the principles of social-democracy, and it supports Estonia's membership in the European Union. From April 2023, the party has been a junior coalition partner in the third Kallas government.
The Riigikogu is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. In addition to approving legislation, the Parliament appoints high officials, including the prime minister and chief justice of the Supreme Court, and elects the president. Among its other tasks, the Riigikogu also ratifies significant foreign treaties that impose military and proprietary obligations and bring about changes in law, as well as approves the budget presented by the government as law, and monitors the executive power.
Jüri Ratas is an Estonian politician who served as the prime minister of Estonia from 2016 to 2021 and as the leader of the Centre Party from 2016 to 2023, and the mayor of Tallinn from 2005 to 2007. Ratas was a member of the Centre Party until switching to Isamaa in 2024.
Isamaa is a Christian-democratic and national conservative political party in Estonia.
Urmas Reinsalu is an Estonian politician who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2022 to 2023 and previously from 2019 to 2021. Before that, Urmas has served as the Minister of Defence between 2012 and 2014, and Minister of Justice from 2015 to 2019. Reinsalu is a member and current leader of the Isamaa ("Fatherland") political party, and was the party leader from 2012 to 2015.
Kaja Kallas is an Estonian politician and diplomat. She was the first female prime minister of Estonia, a role she held from 2021 until 2024, when she resigned in advance of her appointment as High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The leader of the Estonian Reform Party since 2018, she was a member of parliament (Riigikogu) in 2011–2014, and 2019–2021. Kallas was a member of the European Parliament in 2014–2018, representing the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. Before her election to Riigikogu, she was a lawyer specialising in European competition law.
Parliamentary elections were held in Estonia on 3 March 2019. The newly elected 101 members of the 14th Riigikogu assembled at Toompea Castle in Tallinn within ten days of the election. The Reform Party remained the largest party, gaining four seats for a total of 34 and the Conservative People's Party had the largest gain overall, increasing their seat count by 12 to a total of 19 seats.
An indirect election took place in Estonia in 2016 to elect the president of Estonia, who is the country's head of state. The Riigikogu — the Parliament of Estonia — elected Kersti Kaljulaid to be the next head of state of Estonia to succeed Toomas Hendrik Ilves, who had served his second and final term as president. Kaljulaid is the first female head of state of Estonia.
Events of 2019 in Estonia.
Parliamentary elections were held in Estonia on 5 March 2023 to elect all 101 members of the Riigikogu. The officially published election data indicate the victory of the Reform Party, which won 37 seats in total, while the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) placed second with 17 seats. The Centre Party won 16 seats, a loss of 10, while Estonia 200 won 14 seats, gaining representation in the Riigikogu.
Jüri Ratas's second cabinet was the 50th cabinet of Estonia, in office from 29 April 2019 to 14 January 2021. It was a centre-right coalition cabinet of the Centre Party, right-wing populist Conservative People's Party (EKRE) and conservative Isamaa.
An election for the Members of the European Parliament from Estonia as part of the 2024 European Parliament election took place on 9 June. Early voting took place from 3 June to 8 June.
Electoral district no. 3 is one of the 12 multi-member electoral districts of the Riigikogu, the national legislature of Estonia. The electoral district was established in 1995 following the re-organisation of the electoral districts in Tallinn. It is conterminous with the districts of Mustamäe and Nõmme in Tallinn. The district currently elects eight of the 101 members of the Riigikogu using the open party-list proportional representation electoral system. At the 2019 parliamentary election it had 71,882 registered electors.
Electoral district no. 4 is one of the 12 multi-member electoral districts of the Riigikogu, the national legislature of Estonia. The district was established as electoral district no. 5 in 1992 when the Riigikogu was re-established following Estonia's independence from the Soviet Union. It was renamed electoral district no. 4 in 1995 following the re-organisation of electoral districts. It is conterminous with the counties of Harju and Rapla. The district currently elects 15 of the 101 members of the Riigikogu using the open party-list proportional representation electoral system. At the 2019 parliamentary election it had 133,437 registered electors.
An indirect election took place in Estonia on 30 and 31 August 2021 to elect the president of Estonia, who is the country's head of state. The Riigikogu — the Parliament of Estonia — elected Alar Karis to serve in the office and he was sworn in as the 6th president on 11 October 2021. The incumbent, Kersti Kaljulaid, was eligible to seek reelection to a second, and final, term but failed to gain the endorsement of at least 21 MPs, which is required in order for a candidate to register, as she was outspoken against some of the policies of the government, who thus denied her support.
Kaja Kallas's first cabinet was the Cabinet of Estonia between 26 January 2021 and 14 July 2022. It was a grand coalition cabinet of the Reform Party and the Centre Party until 3 June 2022 when Kallas dismissed Centre Party ministers from government after several weeks of disputes between the two parties.
Party of People's Unity was a civic nationalist anti-immigration Estonian political party active in 2014–2019.
The 2022 Estonian government crisis was a political event in Estonia that occurred between May and July 2022. It includes the events that follow the introduction of a child benefits bill by the governing Centre Party with the support of the opposition Isamaa, Social Democrats and EKRE but without the support of the senior partner in the coalition, the Reform Party.
