2023 Parliamentary Elections in Estonia from Three Angles
-
Public Affairs Special Advisor, Meta Advisory
The author of this article views Estonia’s politics from three angles – he is a former politician and member of the Riigikogu (Parliament), as well as a lobbyist and the guest lecturer of political science at Tallinn University. He holds PHD in political science.
The article strives to give a historical overview of the main conflicts of different elections in Estonia and tries to elaborate on the peculiarities of the last election campaign. The main focus highlighted by the author is that the Reform Party was once again the political party who was able to define the main theme of the elections in the eyes of society. The current Prime Minister was able to shift the focus from internal politics to foreign politics. Paradoxically, campaigning during the war in Ukraine suited mostly the Reform Party’s interests, as they were able to dominate the agenda in the field of foreign policy. Ott Lumi also predicts some of the crucial crossroads of the upcoming election term – whether the Centre Party will be able to sustain its monolithic status, whether far right Estonian Conservative People’s Party (EKRE) will become even more radicalised, if the government coali-tion formed after the elections will be stable, and fourthly, what is the destiny of the political landscape of Ida-Virumaa.