Estonian parliamentary election, 2007

Estonian parliamentary election, 2007

2003 ← 4 March 2007 → 2011

101 seats in the Riigikogu 51 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party   Leader Andrus Ansip Edgar Savisaar Party Reform Party Centre Party Last election 19 seats 28 seats Seats won 31 29 Seat change +12 +1 Popular vote 153,044 143,518 Percentage 27.8% 26.1%

Prime Minister before election Andrus Ansip Reform Party Elected Prime Minister Andrus Ansip Reform Party

Estonia

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Estonia

Constitution President Toomas Hendrik Ilves Prime Minister Andrus Ansip Government (cabinet) Present cabinet Parliament (Riigikogu) Supreme Court

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Parliamentary elections took place in Estonia on Sunday, March 4, 2007 to elect members of the Riigikogu. The electoral system was a two-tier semi-open list proportional representation system with a 5% (27,510.65 votes) election threshold. It was the world's first nationwide vote where part of the votecasting was allowed in the form of remote electronic voting via the Internet.

Voting

Voter turnout in the 2007 Riigikogu election was 61.91%.

E-voting via the Internet

Main article: Electronic voting in Estonia

In 2007 Estonia held its and the world's first national Internet election. Voting was available from February 26 to 28. A total of 30,275 citizens (3.4%) used Internet voting.

Electronic voting in Estonia began in October 2005 local elections when Estonia became the first country to have legally binding general elections using the Internet as a means of casting the vote and was declared a success by the Estonian election officials.

The contenders and their prime-ministerial candidates

Parties represented in the previous Parliament

• Social Democratic Party - Ivari Padar
• People's Union of Estonia - Villu Reiljan
• Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica - Mart Laar
• Estonian Reform Party - Andrus Ansip
• Estonian Centre Party - Edgar Savisaar

Parties not represented in the previous Parliament

• Estonian Left Party
• Estonian Independence Party
• Estonian Christian Democrats
• Estonian Greens
• Constitution Party
• Russian Party in Estonia

Also, seven independent candidates stood in this election.

Seats by electoral district

Leading party by municipality:

ERE	EKE	IM/RP	SDE	EMRL
20–29%   30–39%   40–49%   50–59%	20–29%   30–39%   40–49%   50–59%   60–69%   70–79%	20–29%   30–39%   40–49%   50–59%	20–29%   30–39%   40–49%   50–59%	20–29%   30–39%   40–49%   50–59%   60–69%   80–89%

The district number	Electoral District	Seats
1	Haabersti, Põhja-Tallinn and Kristiine districts in Tallinn	8
2	Kesklinn, Lasnamäe and Pirita districts in Tallinn	11
3	Mustamäe and Nõmme districts in Tallinn	8
4	Harjumaa (without Tallinn) and Raplamaa counties	13
5	Hiiumaa, Läänemaa and Saaremaa counties	7
6	Lääne-Virumaa county	6
7	Ida-Virumaa county	8
8	Järvamaa and Viljandimaa counties	8
9	Jõgevamaa and Tartumaa counties (without Tartu)	7
10	Tartu city	8
11	Võrumaa, Valgamaa and Põlvamaa counties	9
12	Pärnumaa county	8

Election results

The election has shown an improvement in the scores of the Reform Party, gaining 12 seats and reaching 31 MPs; the Centre Party held, while the unified right-conservative Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica lost 16. Socialdemocrats gained 4 seats, while the Greens entered the Parliaments with 7 seats, at the expenses of the agrarian People's Union which lost 6. The new configuration of the Estonian Parliament shows a prevalence of the centre-left parties. The Centre Party, led by the mayor of Tallinn Edgar Savisaar, has been increasingly excluded from collaboration, since his open collaboration with Putin's United Russia party, real estate scandals in Tallinn, and the Bronze Soldier controversy, considered as a deliberate attempt of splitting the Estonian society by provoking the Russian minority.. The lack of a concrete possibility for government alternance in Estonia has been quoted as a concern

Summary of the 4 March 2007 Parliament of Estonia election results

	Party	Ideology	Votes	% of votes		swing	MPs	swing	% of MPs	MPs%/votes%
	Estonian Reform Party	Classical liberalism	153 044	27.8		10.1%	31	12	30.7	1,10
	Estonian Centre Party	Centrism, Social liberalism	143 518	26.1		0.7%	29	1	28.7	1,10
	Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica	Conservatism, Liberal Conservatism	98 347	17.9		14.0%	19	16	18.8	1,05
	Social Democratic Party	Social democracy, Third Way	58 363	10.6		3.6%	10	4	9,9	0,93
	Estonian Greens	Green politics	39 279	7.1		7.1%	6	6	5,9	0,84
	People's Union of Estonia	Agrarianism	39 215	7.1		5,9%	6	7	5,9	0,84
	Party of Estonian Christian Democrats	Christian democracy	9 456	1.7		0.7%	0	0	0	0
	Constitution Party	Russian minority, left-wing	5 464	1.0		1.2%	0	0	0	0
	Estonian Independence Party	Euroscepticism, Nationalism	1 273	0.2		0.4%	0	0	0	0
	Russian Party in Estonia	Russian minority	1 084	0.2			0	0	0	0
	Estonian Left Party	Democratic socialism	607	0.1		0.3%	0	0	0	0
	Independents		563	0.1		0.3%	0	0	0	0

	Party	Votes	% of votes	swing	MPs	swing	% of MPs	MPs %/votes %
	Total	550 213	100	0	101	0	100	1,00
	3 biggest	300 228	71.8	0,9%	79	3	78.2	1.09
	The cabinet	335 777	61,0	4,9%	66	6	65,3	1,07
	The opposition	214 436	39,0	4,9%	35	6	34,7	0,89

External links

• Opinion Polls
• NSD: European Election Database - Estonia publishes regional level election data; allows for comparisons of election results, 1992-2007