Kallas, one of Ukraine’s biggest European supporters, will need to work with junior partners to form a coalition government.
Voters in Estonia have elected a new parliament with results almost entirely suggesting Prime Minister Kaja Kallas’s centre-right Reform Party, one of Europe’s most outspoken pro-Ukrainians, will win. big.
With 99% of the votes counted, Kallas’ liberal group was at 31.6%, followed by the Euro-skeptic far-right EKRE party with 16.1%, reflecting some voters’ concerns about the cost. Living activities increased after the COVID-19 pandemic. Russia Invades Ukraine. The Center Party, traditionally supported by the sizable Russian-Russian minority in Estonia, holds 14.7%.
Kallas, 45, told party colleagues and jubilant supporters at a hotel in the Baltic nation’s capital Tallinn: “This result, which is not yet final, will be given to us. I a strong mission to assemble a good government.
Preliminary results show that six parties have passed the 5% support threshold needed to enter the 101-seat parliament, or Riigikogu, including the new Eesti 200, a liberal centrist party. Voter turnout was 63.7%, little changed from the previous election.
Estonia, a country of 1.3 million people on Russia’s northwestern border, has been one of Kiev’s strongest supporters since Moscow invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. military support for Ukraine accounts for more than one percent of gross domestic product (GDP) — the largest contribution of any country relative to the size of its economy.
Kallas said any government she forms would continue to call for pressure on Russia.
“We… have to invest in our security, our belligerent neighbor hasn’t gone away and isn’t going away, so we have to work on that,” she told reporters.
Reform is a center-right liberal party that attracts business owners and young professionals.
It has promised to increase military spending by at least three percent of GDP and reduce taxes on business. It also wants to pass legislation approving same-sex civil partnerships.
The latest result will give the Reform Party 37 seats in the legislature and Kallas will need junior partners to form a coalition with a comfortable majority to rule.
Estonia separated from the Soviet Union in 1991 and is a member of NATO and the European Union.
