The Estonian Free Party () was an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

founded in 2014. The last chairman of the party was Heiki Lill. The party gained 8 seats after passing the 5-percent threshold in the

2015 Estonian parliamentary election 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. The Reform Party (Estonia), Reform Party remained the largest in the Riigikogu, winning 30 of the 101 s ...

s. The party received 6,461 votes in the

2019 Estonian parliamentary election 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 ...

and fell out of the parliament. On 20 August 2020, the party merged with the Estonian Biodiversity Party to form the Estonian Party for the Future.

History

The

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

Estonian Free Party Founding Group was founded in January 2014. Originally it was to be founded by two organizations, Free Patriotic Citizen () and Better Estonia (), but the latter decided to withdraw. Estonian Free Party was officially established on 20 September 2014, and

Andres Herkel Andres Herkel (born 14 August 1962) is an Estonian politician. He started his public activities in the late 1980s. From the very beginning of the independence movement in Estonia, he affiliated himself with pro-independence forces, which had clos ...

was elected as chairman. The party attracted numerous public figures, including former head of the Defense Forces Admiral

Tarmo Kõuts Tarmo Kõuts (born 27 November 1953) is an Estonian politician and former Commander of the Defence Forces (Estonia), Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces. Kõuts graduated from Tallinn Maritime School in 1973 and from Kaliningrad Technical ...

, actor

Ain Lutsepp Ain Lutsepp (born 6 May 1954) is an Estonian actor and politician. Early life and education Born in Tallinn, Ain Lutsepp began his career as a child actor at age thirteen as the character Tõnisson in the 1969 Arvo Kruusement directed Estonia ...

, and

Jüri Adams Jüri Adams (born 22 November 1947) is an Estonian politician. He formerly was the Justice Minister of Estonia from 1994 to 1995. He has been a member of numerous political parties, including the Estonian National Independence Party, Pro Patria U ...

, a former government minister who was one of the main writers of the

Constitution of Estonia The Constitution of Estonia () is the fundamental law of the Republic of Estonia and establishes the state order as that of a democratic republic where the supreme power is vested in its citizens. The first Constitution was adopted by the free ...

. During the

s, the Estonian Free Party received 49,883 votes, constituting 8.7 percent of the total, which garnered it 8 seats in the 101-member parliament. The Estonian Free Party's candidate for

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Artur Talvik Artur Talvik (born 13 June 1964) is an Estonian politician, film director, film producer, actor, and screenwriter. He was a member of the Riigikogu and a former member of the Estonian Free Party. He now leads the Richness of Life party. Biograp ...

, who received the most votes of all the Estonian Free Party candidates, was not a member of the party himself. The Estonian Free Party participated in coalition talks together with the

Estonian Reform Party The Estonian Reform Party () is a liberal political party in Estonia. The party has been led by Kristen Michal since 2024. It is colloquially known as the "Squirrel Party" () or as "the Squirrels" (), referencing its logo. It was founded in ...

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

, and

Pro Patria and Res Publica Union Isamaa () is a Christian democratic and national conservative political party in Estonia. It was founded on 4 June 2006 under the name of "Pro Patria and Res Publica Union", by the merger of two conservative parties, Pro Patria Union and Res ...

, but were left out of the coalition because their proposals to change the tax system were considered unacceptable. The Estonian Reform Party's unwillingness to reduce the state funding for political parties was cited as an issue by the Estonian Free Party.

Political positions

Commentators have argued, that the Estonian Free Party lacks a clear ideology. It has been characterized as

, while chairman Andres Herkel described the party's ideology as right-wing liberal. The party advocates raising the personal

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

, while on the other hand also raising the non-taxable basic exemption to support the poorer majority of taxpayers. The party's program also includes increased taxes on alcohol, tobacco, and confectionery. In economic policy, the party supports a relatively liberal approach, especially to support small businesses. The party has advocated reduction of state funding of political parties. The Estonian Free Party has declared its opposition to the law recognising same-sex unions in Estonia, claiming that in its current form the law does not solve any problems. The party claims that the law needs to be revised and possibly also split into multiple, separate laws. The party opposes compulsory EU-wide migrant quotas in regard to

European migrant crisis The 2015 European migrant crisis was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and Human migration, migrants into Europe, mostly from the Middle East. An estimated 1.3 million people came to the continent to request Right of asyl ...

, and insists that the number of refugees to be accepted needs to be determined through negotiations. In November 2018, the party voted against Estonia joining the UN

Global Compact for Migration The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) is an intergovernmentally negotiated agreement, prepared under the auspices of the United Nations, that describes itself as covering "all dimensions of international migration in a ...

Electoral results

Parliamentary elections

Footnotes

External links

* {{Authority control 2014 establishments in Estonia 2020 disestablishments in Estonia Conservative parties in Estonia Liberal parties in Estonia Defunct political parties in Estonia Political parties disestablished in 2020 Political parties established in 2014 Right-wing politics