1995 Estonian parliamentary election

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1995 Estonian parliamentary election
← 1992 5 March 1995 1999 →
101 seats in the Riigikogu
51 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Tiit Vähi Siim Kallas Edgar Savisaar
Party KE–EML Reform Centre
Last election 17 — 15
Seats won 41 19 16
Seat change Increase24 New Increase1
Popular vote 174,248 87,531 76,634
Percentage 32.2% 16.2% 14.2%
Results by electoral district
Prime Minister before election

Andres Tarand

Party Moderates

 Prime Minister after election

Tiit Vähi
Coalition Party

Parliamentary elections were held in Estonia on 5 March 1995.[1] The newly elected 101 members of the 8th Riigikogu assembled at Toompea Castle in Tallinn within ten days of the election. The governing parties were heavily defeated, except for the Reform Party, the successor of Estonian Liberal Democratic Party. The biggest winner was election alliance consisting of Coalition Party and its rural allies, which won in a landslide victory. The alliance won 41 seats, achieving the best result in an Estonian parliamentary election so far as of 2023.

Background

The majority of the voters were disenchanted with coalition's shock therapy policies and scandals which had already brought about the dismissal of Prime Minister Mart Laar. Laar's premiership was also characterised with internal fights between coalition partners as well as different groups in his own Fatherland party. This led to a split in 1994, when several groups left Fatherland party.[2]

Campaign

KMÜ, while declaring to represent "

pauperization of the people and selling out people's properties. "Fatherland" on the other hand asked in its programme rhetorically, "whether we would like to let to power those who led us under Soviet rule resolutely towards the abyss, do we want back bread cartons and the oppressing embrace of the great Eastern neighbour, do we want hyperinflation and pension queues? Or do we want to continue building up a free and wealthy society?". The main slogan of KMÜ was "Competence, Cooperation, Domestic Peace"; the "Fatherland" ran under slogans "Choose the Right" and "A Choice for the Thinking Person".[2]

Results

The defeat of the governing

centre-right
parties came as no surprise as the coalition parties had already been defeated in the 1993 local elections.

The National Coalition Party "Fatherland" and the Estonian National Independence Party formed an electoral alliance, but won only eight seats. The Right-Wingers, which included members of Fatherland splinter group Republicans’ and the Conservatives’ People's Party, managed to pass the threshold with exactly 5% share of the vote.

The Social Democrats and Rural Centre Party presented a joined list again and soon after the election formed a new party called the Moderates.

An election newcomer was Our Home is Estonia!, a Russian ethnic minority list. Among the lists that did not pass the threshold were a cartel known as the Fourth Power, formed consisting of the Royalists and Greens.

PartyVotes%Seats
Estonian Future Party
13,9072.570
Justice (EDTP–ÕTE [et])12,2482.270
Estonian Farmers' Party [et]8,1461.510
KunRoh (ERP–ER)4,3770.810
Estonian Nationalists Central Union [et]3,4770.640
Forest Party [et]3,2390.600
Estonian Blue Party1,9130.350
Estonian Democratic Union [et]3160.060
Independents1,4440.270
Total540,699100.00101
Valid votes540,69999.06
Invalid/blank votes5,1420.94
Total votes545,841100.00
Registered voters/turnout790,39269.06
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Aftermath

After the election, the Coalition Party under the leadership of

centre-left rural parties, ended in 1996, when the Reform Party left the government. The Coalition Party and its rural allies continued as a minority government until the next elections
in March 1999. The governments under KMÜ generally continued with the free-market reforms and Western integration started under the "Fatherland" governments, with minor changes implemented.

References

  1. ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. ^ a b RIIGIKOGU VALIMISED 1995: erakonnad lubasid valijatele kõike alates omandireformist kuni surmanuhtluseni

External links

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