The board of the Reform Party, which won the Estonian parliamentary elections, did not make any concrete decisions on the government coalition negotiations at its meeting on Monday, but the party’s leader and current Prime Minister Kaja Kallas expressed her determination to form a government as soon as possible.
The board of the Reform Party, which won the Estonian parliamentary elections, did not make any concrete decisions on the government coalition negotiations at its meeting on Monday, but the party’s leader and current Prime Minister Kaja Kallas expressed her determination to form a government as soon as possible.
Kallas told reporters that the party board has evaluated the pros and cons of all combinations, finding that there are at least four possibilities.
She admitted that the board of the Reform Party has not made a decision on several issues, because they should be discussed with the leaders of other parties “before we can make a concrete proposal”.
If the Reform Party starts coalition negotiations, its intention will be to finish the negotiations, Kallas emphasized.
“This time, the negotiations will be for a four-year agreement. This means that many issues must be discussed,” she added.
In the next few days, the Reform Party plans to develop specific proposals, Kallas said, adding that when selecting ministerial candidates, the wishes of the voters and the number of mandates obtained by the parties should be taken into account.
“We want to form the government quickly, and we will not be late,” stressed Kallas, admitting that the pace of forming a government coalition also depends on specific coalition partners.
Kallas, who has led two Estonian governments in a row since January 2021, said that she has already studied the programs of the other parties and found out the issues where the opinions of the parties coincide.
It has already been announced that parliamentary elections were held in Estonia on Sunday. Early voting began on Monday and online voting was also possible until Saturday evening. According to the data of the Central Election Commission, 63.7% of eligible citizens participated in the elections. Slightly more than half of them voted online.
The preliminary results after counting all the votes show that the liberal Reform Party led by Kallas received 31.2% of the votes, leaving behind the opposition national populist Conservative People’s Party (EKRE) with 16.1% of the votes.
In third place with 15.3% of the votes is the center-left Center Party, which is in opposition, followed by the liberal party “Estonia 200”, which has not been represented in the parliament so far, with 13.3% of the votes, and the two minority partners of the coalition led by the Reform Party – the Social Democratic Party, which received 9, 3% of the votes, and the national conservative party “Tēvzeme”, which won 8.2% of the votes.
The other parties have not overcome the 5% barrier to enter the parliament.
According to these results, the Reform Party will have 37 mandates, EKRE – 17 mandates, the Center Party – 16 mandates, the “Estonia 200” party – 14 mandates, the Social Democratic Party – nine mandates, and the “Motherland” party – eight mandates.
There are 101 members of the Estonian parliament, the Rīgikogu, or State Assembly, who are elected for a four-year term.
