Back حزب الشعب المحافظ الإستوني Arabic Кансерватыўная народная партыя Эстоніі Byelorussian Консервативна народна партия на Естония Bulgarian Partidong Konserbador sa Mamamayan Estonya CEB Estonská konzervativní lidová strana Czech Estlands Konservative Folkeparti Danish Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond German Συντηρητικό Λαϊκό Κόμμα της Εσθονίας Greek Konservativa popola partio (Estonio) Esperanto Partido Popular Conservador de Estonia Spanish

Conservative People's Party of Estonia

Conservative People's Party of Estonia
Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond
ChairmanMartin Helme
Deputy chairmenMart Helme
Founded24 March 2012 (2012-03-24)
Merger of
HeadquartersToompuiestee 27, Tallinn
NewspaperKonservatiivide Vaba Sõna
Youth wingBlue Awakening (2012–2024)
Membership (2024)Decrease 8,882[1]
Ideology
Political positionRight-wing to far-right
European affiliationPatriots.eu
Colours  Blue
Riigikogu
11 / 101
Municipalities
244 / 1,717
European Parliament
0 / 7
Party flag
Flag of the Conservative People's Party of Estonia
Website
ekre.ee

The Conservative People's Party of Estonia (Estonian: Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond, EKRE) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Estonia led by Martin Helme. It was founded in March 2012 with the merger of People's Union of Estonia and Estonian Patriotic Movement. Its first leader, Margo Miljand, served as the chairman until 2013 when he was succeeded by Mart Helme. Its popularity remained low until late 2014, when the party began to draw supporters from the right; in the 2015 Estonian parliamentary election, it passed the electoral threshold and won seats in parliament for the first time. Since then, its support has grown, turning it into one of the largest parties in Estonia. In the 2019 Estonian parliamentary election, EKRE placed third, winning 19 seats in total. Mart was succeeded as party chairman by his son, Martin Helme, in July 2020.[6]

Since its inception, EKRE has been described as a right-wing,[7] radical right,[8][9] or a far-right party.[10] The party's leadership rejects the left–right political spectrum.[11] Widely described as a nationalist,[12][13][14][15] ultranationalist,[16][17][18][19] and national-conservative party,[4][20] it opposes immigration, including Russian immigration, into Estonia.[21][22] The party supports the transition of the public school education, which until now has been provided in Russian to the Russian-speaking Soviet immigrant minority in Estonia, into Estonian-language education,[23] and wishes to implement Swiss-style direct democracy, e.g. popular initiatives.[24][25] Due to its right-wing populist and anti-Russian rhetoric,[26][27][28] it has been described by critics as xenophobic and racist.[29][30] On social issues, it is traditionalist,[31][32] while its foreign views are orientated towards Euroscepticism.[33]

  1. ^ "Äriregistri teabesüsteem" (in Estonian). Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  2. ^
  3. ^
  4. ^ a b Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "Estonia". Parties and Elections in Europe.|Boros, Tamás; Freitas, Maria; Kadlot, Tibor; Stetter, Ernst (2016). The State of Populism in Europe. Foundation for European Progressive Studies. p. 27.
  5. ^
  6. ^ "Martin Helme elected chairman of EKRE". ERR.
  7. ^ Right-wing extremism and its possible impact to the internal security of the Republic of Estonia
  8. ^ Petsinis, Vassilis (3 April 2019). "Identity Politics and Right-Wing Populism in Estonia: The Case of EKRE". Nationalism and Ethnic Politics. 25 (2): 211–230. doi:10.1080/13537113.2019.1602374. hdl:10062/64605. ISSN 1353-7113. S2CID 197712394.
  9. ^ "Liberal Estonia is Back—With Some Lessons Learned About Engaging with Radical Right-wing Populists". ICDS. 21 January 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  10. ^
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference postimees was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ "Estonia's golden image threatened by rise of far-right nationalists". Financial Times. 16 July 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  13. ^ "Nationalist Party Enters Estonia's Government". www.voanews.com. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  14. ^ "Far-Right Estonian Party Closes in on Kallas Before March Vote". Bloomberg.com. 12 October 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  15. ^ "Racism, sexism, Nazi economics: Estonia's far right in power". The Guardian. 21 May 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  16. ^ "In Liberal Estonia, Right-Wing Populists Are Making Their Mark". Freedom House. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  17. ^ ""The East-Europeanization of Estonian Politics" | Baltic Rim Economies". sites.utu.fi. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  18. ^ "Europe's far right has stalled". Australian Financial Review. 31 December 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  19. ^ "Estonian PM invites far-right to join cabinet". Reuters. 11 March 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  20. ^ Boros, Tamás; Freitas, Maria; Kadlot, Tibor; Stetter, Ernst (2016). The State of Populism in Europe. Foundation for European Progressive Studies. p. 27.
  21. ^ "Estonia Turns the Page on Its Flirtation With the Far-Right EKRE". www.worldpoliticsreview.com. 24 February 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  22. ^ "Estonia's far-right leader is down but not out". POLITICO. 1 February 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  23. ^ "EKRE taunib Ida-Virumaal toimuvat venestamispoliitikat - EKRE – Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond".
  24. ^ Tom Lansford (2017) Political Handbook of the World 2016–2017, CQ Press
  25. ^ "Martin Helme: demokraatia on Euroopas löögi all, Eesti lohiseb kaasa". Objektiiv (in Estonian). 1 March 2016. Retrieved 9 September 2016. Helme sõnul toetab EKRE otsedemokraatia kõiki meetodeid, mitte ainult rahvaalgatust, mis on selle võti.
  26. ^ "Center-right party tops Estonia vote, but populists win, too". ABC News. 7 March 2019.
  27. ^ Zulianello, Mattia (2020). "Varieties of Populist Parties and Party Systems in Europe: From State-of-the-Art to the Application of a Novel Classification Scheme to 66 Parties in 33 Countries". Government and Opposition. 55 (2): 327–347. doi:10.1017/gov.2019.21. hdl:11368/3001222. S2CID 200013354.
  28. ^ "As refugees pour into Europe, far-right populists gain ground". The Times of Israel. 11 March 2016.
  29. ^
  30. ^ ERR (15 June 2014). "EKRE: kooseluseadus on vastuolus eesti rahva huvidega". ERR (in Estonian). Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  31. ^
  32. ^ Tiido, Anna (2015). "The Russian minority issue in Estonia: host state policies and the attitudes of the population" (PDF). Polish Journal of Political Science (4). Retrieved 2 August 2016.

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