Estonian parliamentary election, 2019

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.

Electoral system

The 101 members of the Riigikogu are elected by proportional representation in twelve multi-member constituencies. Seats are allocated using a modified D'Hondt method. Parties have to pass a nationwide threshold of 5% to win seats. If the number of votes cast for an individual candidate exceeds or equals the simple quota in their constituency (obtained by dividing the number of valid votes cast in the electoral district by the number of seats in the district), they are deemed elected. The remaining seats are allocated based on each party's share of the vote and the number of votes received by individual candidates. Any seats not allocated at the constituency level are filled using a closed list presented by each party at the national level.

Seats by electoral district

Opinion polls

Results

By constituency

Government formation

Having won the most seats, the Reform Party took the lead in forming a new government. Kallas stated that she would be seeking a three-party coalition with Isamaa and the Social Democratic Party, or a two-party coalition with the Centre Party.

On 6 March, the Reform Party announced that they would begin talks with the Centre Party. Two days later the Centre Party declined the offer, citing differences of opinion on tax matters and claiming that the Reform Party's demands were too ultimatum-like.

After the Centre Party's rejection, the Reform Party invited the Social Democrats and Isamaa to negotiations. The Reform party had previously said that the poor relationship between two in the previous government would be unhelpful for a future coalition.

On 11 March, the Centre Party announced that it would begin parallel coalition talks with Isamaa and the Conservative People's Party, while criticizing the Reform Party of "extreme uncertainty" in formation of a coalition. Isamaa rejected the Reform Party's proposal and accepted the Centre Party's proposal. At the same time the Conservative People's Party also decided to begin coalition talks with Centre and Isamaa.

Coalition attempt by the Centre Party

After having turned down an offer by the Reform party for coalition talks, the head of the Centre Party, Jüri Ratas, entered into talks with Isamaa and the Conservative People's Party (EKRE), the latter being widely considered a far-right party. Ratas had previously ruled out forming a coalition with EKRE during the election campaign because of its hostile views.

The subsequent reversal of his stance and the inclusion of EKRE by Ratas in coalition talks after the elections was met with local and international criticism. In a poll conducted after the start of the coalition talks, the party of Jüri Ratas further lost support.

Critics of the decision to include the Conservative People's Party in a coalition government claimed that Ratas is willing to sacrifice the Centre Party's values, the confidence of Centre Party voters and the stability of the country to keep his position as prime minister. Ratas has countered that his first duty is to look for ways to get his party included in the government in order to be able to work for the benefit of his voters, and that the coalition would continue to firmly support the EU and NATO, and would be sending out messages of tolerance.

Some key members and popular candidates of Ratas' Centre Party have been critical of the decision, with Raimond Kaljulaid leaving the party's governing board in protest. Yana Toom, a member of the party and a party representative in the European Parliament, expressed criticism of the decision. Mihhail Kõlvart, popular among Russian-speaking voters, said the Centre Party cannot govern with the Conservative People's policy on languages in Estonia.

The decision to include the Conservative People's Party (EKRE) was also criticised in a letter written by Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the ALDE group in the European Parliament (the group in which Ratas' Centre Party is a member), suggesting that Ratas should break off coalition talks with the national-conservative EKRE. Ratas criticised Verhofstadt's letter in the Estonian media.

On 6 April, coalition negotiations ended between the Centre Party, EKRE, and Isamaa, after the parties agreed on a coalition plan. The parties agreed that Jüri Ratas would retain the role of prime minister and that there would be four name and role changes to ministerial portfolios. The parties also agreed that the new cabinet will contain fifteen ministries (including the Prime Minister), with each party receiving a total of five ministries. It is the first time that a far-right party is poised to enter Estonia's government.

On 16 April, President Kersti Kaljulaid officially gave Jüri Ratas the mandate to form the next government, after Kallas failed to get parliament's approval to form a government.

Coalition attempt by the Reform Party

After the announcement, the leader of Reform, Kaja Kallas, who was tasked first by President Kersti Kaljulaid to form a coalition, said that she intended to hold a vote in the Riigikogu on 15 April on a coalition deal that she was trying to form. Kallas stated that she was considering two options, either inviting another party (except EKRE) to join the coalition or forming a minority government with the Social Democrats. There was also another possible option, with Reform forming a coalition with the Social Democrats and receiving backing from some Centre and Isamaa MPs who expressed their opposition about forming a government with EKRE, but "Kallas has not said that such a set-up was on the cards."

Coalition voting process

On 15 April, Estonia's parliament voted against the Reform Party's coalition attempt, with 45 MPs voting in favor, 53 voting against, 2 abstentions, and 1 absent.

On 17 April, Estonia's parliament approved the proposed coalition between Centre, EKRE and Isamaa, with a vote of 55–44, giving Jüri Ratas the chance to form a government.

Jüri Ratas' second cabinet, containing the Centre Party, EKRE and Isamaa, was sworn in on 29 April 2019.

2021 change in government

On 25 January 2021, after the resignation of Jüri Ratas as prime minister following a scandal, Kallas formed a Reform-led coalition government with the Centre Party, making her the first female prime minister in Estonia's history.

References

External links

Estonian National Electoral Committee

{{Estonian elections

Estonia
2019 in Estonia
March 2019 events in Europe
Parliamentary elections in Estonia