The Estonian Free Party ( et, Eesti Vabaerakond) was an

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

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the Right-wing politics, right of the Left–right politics, political spectrum, but are closer to the Centrism, centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure a ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country'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 remained the largest in the Riigikogu, winning 30 of the 101 seats. Its leader, Taavi ...

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) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

Estonian Free Party Founding Group was founded in January 2014. Originally it was to be founded by two organizations, Free Patriotic Citizen ( et, Vaba Isamaaline Kodanik) and Better Estonia ( et, Parem Eesti), 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 The phrase Defence Force(s) (or Defense Force(s) in US English - see spelling differences) is in the title of the armed forces of certain countries and territories. Defence forces *Ambazonia Defence Forces *Artsakh Defence Army *Australian Defence ...

Admiral Tarmo Kõuts, 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 Estonian ...

, 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. 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, premier 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. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

, Artur Talvik, 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 ( et, Eesti Reformierakond) 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" ( et, Oravapartei). It was founded in 1994 by Si ...

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 For ...

, and Pro Patria and Res Publica Union, 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, 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 Int ...

Electoral results

Parliamentary elections

Footnotes

External links

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