Estonia
Elections 2014
1. The elections to the European Parliament are subject to a 5% threshold. The parties submit electoral lists, but the voters must select and vote for an individual candidate.
2. This year’s elections to the European Parliament were mainly dominated (besides the domestic issues) by the current conflict over the Ukraine and in particular, the Russian activity in this conflict. This placed an increased focus on Estonia’s membership in the European Union and in NATO. In contrast to 2009, there were no major surprises with respect to the usual domestic constellations.
3. Election results
Voter turnout: 36.6% (2009: 43.2%)
Reform Party (liberal): 24.3% / 2 seats
Center Party (left-liberal): 22.4% / 2 seats
Patriotic Union (conservative): 13.9% / 1 seat
Social Democrats: 13.6% / 1 seat
one-person list Indrek Tarand: 13.2% / 1 seat4. The Center Party traditionally represents the interests of the russophone minority in Estonia. It has a cautious, left-liberal political alignment. So far, despite consistently good election results, it has not been able to enter into a government coalition. The mayor of Tallinn belongs to this party.
The television entertainer Indrek Tarand, who runs on his own, will be returning to the European Parliament. In 2009, his 25% share of the vote would even have sufficed to win two seats. This time around, he received significantly fewer votes, but still enough to repeat his success.
Krzysztof Pilawski
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The member party of the European Left, the Esonian Left Party fell from 0,8% to 0,1%.
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