Estonia’s opposition Social Democratic Party (SDE) has proposed the country’s Chancellor of Justice, Ülle Madise, as a candidate for president, ERR reports. SDE’s deputy chairman, Tanel Kiik, argued that Madise had the potential to secure a two-thirds majority needed to be elected in the Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu. He said that SDE had discussed Madise’s…
Every major party in Estonia has added to the state’s debt burden, according to Kaspar Oja, senior economist at the Bank of Estonia, ERR reported. While the biggest budget deficits emerged during the coronavirus pandemic, Estonia has had structural deficits every year since 2017, Oja noted. His analysis found that when in government, the Conservative…
Estonian political analysts said that the country’s parliament, the Riigikogu, was unlikely to agree on the election of a new president, ERR reported. The election was therefore likely to move to the electoral college, the analysts said. Both Tarmo Jüristo, head of the Liberal Citizen Foundation (SALK), and Tõnis Saarts, associate professor of comparative politics…
Estonian President Alar Karis announced that he would not run for a second term in office, ERR reported. He said that he had made the decision a long time ago and cited personal reasons. One reason was that he had promised his family that he would only serve one term, Karis explained. The chairman of…
Estonia’s national-conservative opposition party, Fatherland, remained the most popular political party in June 2026 with 23.5% support, which was largely unchanged from 24% in May 2026, according to Emor’s latest poll, ERR reported. The Estonian Centre Party came in second with 21.5% (21%) support, followed by the Social Democratic Party (SDE) with 16.2% (17%) and…
Estonia’s most popular choice for prime minister is Urmas Reinsalu, chairman of the national-conservative opposition party, Fatherland, according to a new Norstat poll for the Institute for Societal Research (YI), ERR reports. In the survey, 27% of respondents preferred Reinsalu for prime minister in June 2026, followed by Mihhail Kõlvart, chairman of the opposition Estonian…
The Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, will convene for an extraordinary session on 2 September 2026 to elect the country’s next president, ERR reports. The only candidate named so far is former interior minister Mart Helme, who was nominated by the opposition Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE). Incumbent President Alar Karis has not yet announced…
Estonia’s Finance Minister, Jürgen Ligi, vowed to defend budget discipline and push back against populist spending proposals ahead of the parliamentary elections in March 2027, ERR reported. Ligi said that the country’s political culture had deteriorated badly, and acknowledged that populism had crept into his own Estonian Reform Party as well. He insisted on the…
Estonia’s national-conservative opposition party, Fatherland, had 26.7% support in Norstat’s poll conducted in May 2026, ERR reports. The opposition Estonian Centre Party came in second with 21.7%, followed by two other opposition parties — the Social Democratic Party with 14.3% and the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia with 13.7%. Support for the ruling Estonian Reform…
