The liberal, pro-European and pro-NATO Estonian Reform Party led by Prime Minister Taavi Roivas and his partners in government, the Social Democrats, won the 1 March 2015 parliamentary elections, although they will need to seek the support of a third political force to stay in power. The elections were marked by security concerns and fears of a repeat of the Ukraine conflict in the Baltic region.
Reform won 27.7% of the vote, giving it 30 out of the 101 seats in the Riigikogu (Estonian lower house), three less than in the previous legislature, according to the National Electoral Commission. For its part, the Centre Party, a centre-left party backed by three-quarters of the ethnic Russian population, won 24.8% of the votes – 27 seats – one more than in the previous elections. The Social Democratic Party, in turn, lost 4 seats and was left with 15 seats (15.2% of the vote).
“We have a responsibility to join forces in a coalition government which is willing and efficient,” Roivas told the members of his party after the results. “We will need at least three parties in government” and the Reform Party will talk first to the Social Democrats, he said, in an interview on Eesti Rahvusringhääling, the Estonian TV channel.
Pro-Russian Centre Party, the second political force
The Centre Party, led by Edgar Savisaar, a veteran of the struggle for Estonian independence in the 1980s and former member of the Communist Party, has garnered more votes among Russian speakers, especially in Tallinn, capital of Estonia.
During the campaign, Savisaar was criticised for maintaining strong ties with United Russia, the party of President Putin, at a moment of great concern in this Baltic country due to the Ukraine crisis. Moreover, the Estonian election day coincided with the mass demonstration in Moscow over the murder of Russian opposition leader, Boris Nemtsov.
Three smaller parties have also got seats in the Riigikogu, passing the threshold of 5% of votes, and from where Roivas may find his third ally. Voter turnout reached 64.2%, the highest since the national elections of 1995. About 20% of Estonians exercised their right to vote through the Internet.
In fear of the Soviet ghost
The Baltic region, which escaped from Soviet control with the fall of Communism 24 years ago, has been rocked by the war in Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea, and an increase in the activity of Russian fighter jets near its borders. Estonia has been one of the staunchest defenders in Europe of maintaining sanctions against Russia, as a result of the Kremlin’s involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.
Estonia has secured a permanent NATO presence in its territory, a fact which has become a source of hostility for the country’s more than 300,000 pro-Russian inhabitants, representing a quarter of the population – the same proportion as in Ukraine. The invasion of Crimea, in 2014, has therefore rekindled the memory of a time, which everyone thought was forgotten.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania regained their independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The three Baltic countries became independent from the Russian Empire in 1918 but were occupied by the Red Army in 1940, and from 1941 to 1945 by Nazi troops, to then come under Soviet rule at the end of World War II.
