The Estonian government plans to cut public funding for political parties by 10% in the 2025 state budget, Prime Minister Kristen Michal announced, ERR reports. Both Michal and Regional Affairs Minister Piret Hartman expect that the reduction will have an impact on party activities. Michal said that right-wing parties, which usually receive more support from…
Estonia’s opposition conservative Fatherland (Isamaa) party remained the country’s most popular political party in August 2024, according to the latest Norstat poll for the Institute for Societal Research (YI), ERR reports. Isamaa’s support among voters now stands at 27.6%, followed by the ruling Estonian Reform Party with 19.4% and its coalition partner, the Social Democratic…
Estonian political parties received more than EUR 4.9mn in private donations in 2023, according to data from the Political Parties Financing Surveillance Committee (ERJK), ERR reported. The total does not include donations made to the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE) in the fourth quarter of 2023, however. The opposition Fatherland (Isamaa) party received altogether…
The deputy speaker of the Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, former prime minister Jüri Ratas, announced that he has quit the Estonian Centre Party (Keskerakond) and joined the Fatherland (Isamaa) party, ERR reports. He said that the values of the Centre Party’s leadership no longer coincided with his own. Ratas was replaced as party chairman by…
Estonia’s opposition Fatherland (Isamaa) party and Estonian Centre Party (Keskerakond) have decided to end their filibustering in the parliament, the Riigikogu, for now, ERR reports. The two parties withdrew their numerous submitted amendments, saying that they were against obstructing parliamentary work. The opposition’s filibustering practically halted the Riigikogu’s spring and autumn sessions in 2023. In…
The parliamentary group of Estonia’s opposition Estonian Centre Party (Keskerakond) will find it hard to recover from the exodus of MPs from the party, ERR’s Uku Toom estimates. The parliamentary group has dwindled from 26 MPs a year ago to just 7 today. The faction is therefore unlikely to have representatives in all parliamentary committees…
Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has denied rumours of a possible coalition reshuffle, ERR reports. Kallas dismissed suggestions that her Estonian Reform Party might consider removing Estonia 200 from the current three-party coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SDE) if MPs from the opposition Estonian Centre Party (Keskerakond) join SDE. Kallas suspects that Urmas Reinsalu, leader…
Another six members of the Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, have resigned from the opposition Estonian Centre Party (Keskerakond), and four of them joined the Social Democratic Party (SDE), which is part of the current coalition government, ERR reports. One of those leaving is Tanel Kiik, chairman of the Centre Party’s parliamentary group. Earlier, two of…
Estonia’s former prime minister and former chairman of the Estonian Centre Party (Keskerakond), Jüri Ratas, expects more people to leave the opposition party, ERR reports. He said that the party’s new chairman, Tallinn’s Russian-speaking mayor Mihhail Kõlvart, has failed to ensure party unity, noting that most of those who have quit are Estonian-speakers. Earlier, two…