The security policy propelled Prime Minister Kaja Kallas’s party to a historic election victory. The war in Ukraine also contributed to the decline of the conservative party and the collapse of the center, writes Ylen’s Estonian editor Rain Kooli.
Rain KooliEstonia editor
TALLINN The party has 37 seats in Estonia’s 101-seat Riigikogu and To Kaja Kallas all-time voice king with 32,000 votes.
The Reform Party’s election victory on Sunday was so total that even Kallas himself seemed a little embarrassed by it on election night.
When the election result came out in the middle of the night, it was also clear that the winner had placed his bets correctly.
Kaja Kallas has become one of the most famous advocates of supporting Ukraine and opposing Russia in Europe. This was also visible in the polls for prime minister held before the elections in Estonia. On the eve of the elections from Kalla considered the best option to be the next prime minister (you move to another service) 41 percent of Estonians.
So the reform party made security policy the main theme of its election campaign and it paid off.
The Conservative People’s Party made a mistake
The conservative People’s Party Ekre, which came second in yesterday’s parliamentary elections, made a mistake by challenging Kallas specifically on the Ukraine theme.
Ekre loudly opposed the reception of Ukrainian refugees and accused the Kallas government of collapsing Estonia’s defense capabilities with the arms aid given to Ukraine.
It was also about the topic public war of words (you switch to another service) Commander of the Estonian Defense Forces Martin Heremin with.
The voters did not like this. In the elections, Ekre’s support was half of that of the Reform Party. Ekre loses two seats in the Riigikogu in the Estonian Parliament, while the Reform Party wins three.
A wild trick by a small pro-Russia party
Much worse happened to the center party that lost second place to Ekre. Its support decreased by almost eight percentage points and the number of seats fell by ten from the previous 26.
The party, traditionally dependent on the votes of Estonia’s Russian minority, did not come up with a decent approach to the elections. The center’s support for Ukraine and the removal of Soviet monuments from northeastern Estonia have, in turn, driven away some of the Russian-speaking voters.
Karkulaiset was skilfully picked up by the previously completely marginal United Left Party. Until now, the party that had gathered less than a thousand votes in the elections now received almost 15,000 votes with an open pro-Russia attitude.
Only the largest gainer of the elections, the liberal Eesti 200 party, won 13 percent of the votes because of the war in Ukraine.
It managed to profile itself in the eyes of voters as a fresh alternative, an expert party coming from outside traditional party politics.