Conservative People's Party of Estonia
The Conservative People's Party of Estonia 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 while legally remaining the same entity as the People's Union of Estonia. 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.
Since its inception, EKRE has been described as a radical right or a far-right party. The party's leadership rejects the left–right political spectrum. Widely described as a nationalist, ultranationalist, and national-conservative party, it opposes immigration, including Russian immigration, into Estonia. 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, and wishes to implement Swiss-style direct democracy, e.g. popular initiatives. Due to its right-wing populist and anti-Russian rhetoric, it has been described by critics as xenophobic and racist. On social issues, it is traditionalist, while its foreign views are orientated towards Euroscepticism.
History
The party is a descendant of several earlier Estonian nationalist movements and political groups. The Estonian Patriotic Movement was a political pressure group founded in 2006. From 2008, the movement was led by Martin Helme. ERL was set up in the middle of 2006 to promote the removal of the "Bronze Soldier of Tallinn", a Stalinist war monument, from the centre of capital city Tallinn. After 2007, the main political positions of the ERL were opposition to the building of the Russian-German Nord Stream 1 pipeline through the Baltic Sea, criticism of the loss of Estonian sovereignty due to membership in the European Union, support for a NATO military base being installed in Estonia, and active opposition to the Estonian Centre Party's pro-Russia policies and other perceived improper acts. The movement repeatedly expressed displeasure for the Russian Federation's covert interference in Estonia's internal affairs. In June 2007, ERL issued a press release demanding the declaration of the Russian Ambassador to Estonia, Nikolai Uspenski, a persona non grata based on his repeated attempts at such interference.The party was formally founded in March 2012 when an agrarian centrist party People's Union of Estonia and the Estonian Patriotic Movement merged. The People's Union had started to look for a possible merging partner already in 2010. The talks then with the Social Democratic Party were concluded and a special congress was convened to approve the merger agreement. However, at the party congress, only 172 delegates out of 412 supported the deal. Following the failed merger attempt, many leading members left the party and joined the Social Democrats. In the 2011 parliamentary election, the People's Union did not pass the 5% threshold.
Mart Helme and several of his close allies ran at the election as independent candidates, none of whom passed the threshold necessary for an independent to enter the parliament. After the election, the leader of the People's Union, Margo Miljand, met with Helme. To save the party, Helme advised him to change the party name and alter the program. With links to the nationalist Estonian Patriotic Movement, Helme advised a deal between the two. The movement promised it would help redo the party programme and elect new leaders.
In March 2012, the Estonian Patriotic Movement merged into the People's Union and the latter changed its name to the Conservative People's Party of Estonia. At the assembly in Põltsamaa, where the party was founded, EKRE made its first political statement: "No political party in the Riigikogu represents the Estonian people, our national interest or traditional values. The government acts on right- and left liberal, also socialist ideas that our countrymen are simply statistical units or taxpayers, consumers at best. It is not far right or far left, just ultra-liberalism. The Conservative People's Party gives a solution to the voters who are sick of forced choice between Ansip and Savisaar, East and West, left and right." For the first three months, EKRE's support according to the polls was zero, then it began to gradually rise.
Representatives of EKRE have taken part in the yearly gatherings of the veterans of the Estonian Legion at the Sinimäed Hills. In 2013, the attendance of Mart Helme was praised in Estonian media while the abstention of other parties' leaders was frown upon and seen as a result of Russian anti-fascist propaganda.
During the local elections in October 2013, the party gained representation in several smaller municipalities, such as the parishes of Tudulinna and Häädemeeste. A member of the party also became mayor of the town of Saue; however, he was set up independently of EKRE in a local party's list.
The first party since the 1990s to politically organise Estonian diaspora, EKRE founded its Finland branch in October 2014.
In the run-up to the 2015 parliamentary election, EKRE managed to draw supporters from the mainstream right, including defectors mainly from the IRL, but also from the liberal Reform Party and the Free Party's initiative group. In the election, EKRE won 8.1% of the vote and seven seats in the Riigikogu. Soon after, the winning Reform Party excluded EKRE from the coalition talks, citing as a reason a blog post by EKRE's MP Jaak Madison, written in January 2012. In the blog post, Madison, commented on the economic policies in Nazi Germany in the 1930s: "There is no perfect form of government, not even democracy. I consider that fascism was a ideology that also included several positive nuances that could be needed in order to preserve the nation-state."
The former president of Estonia Arnold Rüütel voiced his support for Mart Helme in the 2016 Estonian presidential election.
As of 2018, EKRE was the only political party in Estonia with growing membership numbers. While all other parties were losing members, EKRE was gaining a few hundred members on a yearly basis.
In March 2019 Mart Helme said to the press that he wishes that one day his party would be the sole ruling party of Estonia.
After gaining 17.8% of the votes in the 2019 parliamentary election, EKRE joined Jüri Ratas' second cabinet with five out of fifteen cabinet positions. In 2021, Jüri Ratas resigned and the new government was formed without EKRE.
In 2021, pundits noticed that since 2019 EKRE support grew in the Russian community This might be attributed to party's social conservative stance on social policy matters.
The leadership of dissolved Estonian Independence Party joined EKRE in October 2022.
In the March 2023 general election, EKRE received 16,05% of the vote and won 17 seats. The party remained in opposition.
A major split in the party took place after the 2024 European Parliament election, with several MPs being expelled from the party, and the party's sole MEP, Jaak Madison leaving the party. Those who departed EKRE accused the EKRE leadership of pro-Russian stances and called for a less aggressive communication style towards political opponents. Several of the politicians who left EKRE subsequently formed the 'Estonian Nationalists and Conservatives' party.
Ideology and political positions
EKRE describes itself as "a principled and bravely patriotic Estonian party with an unshakable mission to protect Estonian national values and interests".The Estonian Conservative People's Party program states that it is founded on the continuity of the Republic of Estonia and its Constitution, and it unites people who fight for the nation state, social cohesion and democratic principles.
EKRE states that the activities of the party are based on three fundamental values:
- Endurance of the Estonian values, based on support for the language, culture, education, family, traditions and national economy
- Participation society of equal opportunities, where open, honest and democratic governance allows all citizens to reach fulfilment and get involved in politics
- Socially and regionally balanced development and well-being that are guaranteed by a fair and strong state by implementing caring and knowledge-based policies and by developing an ecologically sustainable living environment.
Martin Helme, the party leader, has said that the accusations of extremism simply reflect the unfamiliarity and discomfort of the ruling class and media with the new political rhetoric of EKRE: "The mainstream has become so orthodox, so narrow, that whatever is not immaculately, diligently, fervently more-catholic-than-pope mainstream is immediately labelled extremism."
The programme of EKRE states that the citizens must actively guard against the external as well as the internal enemy in order to secure the Estonian nation, the survival of its independence and its status as an ethno-state. It also states as its objectives the creation of the environment needed for the survival of the Estonian language and culture. The party calls for implementation of direct democracy, balanced state budget, and strict control over immigration to Estonia. Mart Helme has also expressed wishes for EKRE to gain the parliamentary majority and become the sole governing party.