Estonia’s incumbent president, Alar Karis, said that he would indicate by July 2026 if he wants to run for a second term, ERR reports. Speaking in an interview with Vikerraadio, Karis noted that there was still several months until the election in September 2026, and that candidates could only be nominated in early July 2026….
Latvia’s Central Election Commission (CVK) has registered a signature campaign for holding a referendum on changing the country’s state-funded pension system, LSM reports. The populist opposition party, Latvia First (LPV), initiated the referendum campaign after the Latvian parliament, the Saeima, rejected the party’s legislative proposal. The referendum campaign is very unlikely to succeed, however. Under…
Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal suggested that former president Kersti Kaljulaid could be nominated as a candidate in presidential elections due in September 2026, ERR reports. Michal noted that incumbent president Alar Karis did not seem to have sufficient support in the parliament, the Riigikogu, to be reelected for a second term. Earlier, Lauri Läänemets,…
Estonia’s national-conservative opposition party, Fatherland (Isamaa), remained the country’s most popular party in April 2026, according to Norstat’s poll for the Institute for Societal Research (YI), ERR reports. Fatherland’s support stands at 26.4%, followed by the opposition Estonian Centre Party (Keskerakond) with 22.4%, the populist opposition Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE) with 14.1%, and…
Around 50 members of the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, have proposed holding a popular referendum on redefining the concept of family in the country’s constitution, LRT reports. The MPs argue that the Constitutional Court exceeded its authority when ruling that the concept of family was gender-neutral and not exclusive to married couples, and that limiting…
Opposition parties in Latvia have seized on culturally divisive issues to garner support ahead of the parliamentary elections in October 2026, New Eastern Europe reports. Earlier, the Latvian parliament, the Saeima, voted to withdraw from the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on preventing violence against women. Opposition parties claim that the human rights treaty is…
Estonia’s populist opposition party, the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE), has nominated its founder and former chairman, Mart Helme, as its presidential candidate, ERR reports. Helme said that his key concepts were “nation, family, and home.” Were he to be elected president, Helme said that his first task would be to “restore constitutional order…
Estonia’s three opposition parties, national-conservative Fatherland (Isamaa), populist Estonian Centre Party (Keskerakond), and the Social Democratic Party (SDE), are the country’s most popular political parties, according to Norstat’s new poll for the Institute for Societal Research (YI), ERR reports. Fatherland’s support now stands at 26.3%, the Centre Party’s at 21.9%, and SDE’s at 15.1%. The…
The Latvian government is considering a windfall tax on fuel retailers, LETA reports. Under the proposal, fuel retailers would have to pay a solidarity tax if their actual retail price was more than 3% higher than the objectively calculated indicative retail price. Earlier, the government lowered the excise duty on diesel fuel temporarily until 30…