Reform Party led by Prime Minister Kallas wins parliamentary elections in Estonia

TALLINN. March 6 (Interfax) - The ruling Reform Party led by Prime Minister Kaja Kallas won parliamentary elections in Estonia by a landslide on Sunday.

As many as 968 candidates from nine political parties and ten individual candidates fought for 101 parliament seats.

According to the preliminary data, the Reform Party gained 31.8% of the vote and would gain 38 parliament seats, which is four seats more than it had as a result of the previous elections of 2019. The liberal Reform Party that actively backs Ukraine has initiated a number of the EU sanctions against Russia. It stands for a drastic increase of the defense budget and the dismantlement of Soviet-era monuments in Estonia. Laws, which compelled Russian schools to start teaching in Estonian, were adopted at the party's initiative in 2022.

The Reform Party leader, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, won the majority of votes. The 31,102 votes cast in her support set a record in parliamentary elections.

Following the Reform Party, is the Conservative People's Party with 15.9% votes and 17 parliament seats.

The Center Party got 14.5% of the vote and 15 parliament seats.

The Eesti 200 (Estonia 200) party gained 13.5% of the vote and 14 parliament seats. The Social Democratic Party received 9.4% of the vote (nine parliament seats), while Pro Patria (Isamaa) got 8.3% of the vote (eight parliament seats).

The rest of parties failed to pass the 5% threshold.

The voter turnout stood at 63.7%. In all, 614,976 of voters cast their ballots, including 301,462 on paper and 313,514 online.

Voters in the Rapla district were the most active (77.6%), while the population of northeastern Estonia, predominantly, Russian speakers was the least active (52.7%).

That was the only electoral district with a voter turnout below 60%.

Estonia saw 63.7% voter turnout in the previous parliamentary elections of 2019.