2007 Estonian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Estonia on 4 March 2007. It was the world's first nationwide vote where part of the voting was carried out in the form of remote electronic voting via the internet.

2007 Estonian parliamentary election

4 March 2007

101 seats in the Riigikogu
51 seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Andrus Ansip Edgar Savisaar Tõnis Lukas and Taavi Veskimägi
Party Reform Centre Pro Patria and Res Publica
Last election 19 seats 28 seats 32 seats
Seats won 31 29 19
Seat change 12 1 10
Popular vote 153,044 143,518 98,347
Percentage 27.8% 26.1% 17.9%

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Ivari Padar Aleksei Lotman Ester Tuiksoo
Party Social Democratic Greens People's Union
Last election 6 seats did not participate 13 seats
Seats won 10 6 6
Seat change 4 6 7
Popular vote 58,363 39,279 39,215
Percentage 10.6% 7.1% 7.1%

Prime Minister before election

Andrus Ansip
Reform

Elected Prime Minister

Andrus Ansip
Reform

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 election saw the Estonian Reform Party emerged as the largest faction in the Riigikogu with 31 seats. The Estonian Centre Party finished second with 29 seats, whilst the new Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica lost 16 seats compared to the 35 won by the two parties in the 2003 elections. The Social Democrats gained 4 seats, whilst the Greens entered the Riigikogu for the first time with 7 seats and the People's Union lost seven of its 13 seats.

Background

The Centre Party, led by the mayor of Tallinn Edgar Savisaar, had been increasingly excluded from collaboration, since his open collaboration with Putin's United Russia party, real estate scandals in Tallinn,[1] and the Bronze Soldier controversy, considered as a deliberate attempt to split Estonian society by provoking the Russian minority.[2]

Electoral system

In 2007 Estonia held its and the world's first national Internet election. Voting was available from February 26 to 28.[3] A total of 30,275 citizens (3.4%) used Internet voting.[4]

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 electoral system was a two-tier semi-open list proportional representation system with a 5% (27,510.65 votes) election threshold.

Seats by electoral district

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

Results

Party Votes % Seats +/–
Estonian Reform Party153,04427.831+12
Estonian Centre Party143,51826.129+1
Pro Patria and Res Publica Union98,34717.919–16
Social Democratic Party58,36310.610+4
Estonian Greens39,2797.16New
People's Union of Estonia39,2157.16–7
Party of Estonian Christian Democrats9,4561.700
Constitution Party5,4641.000
Estonian Independence Party1,2730.200
Russian Party in Estonia1,0840.200
Estonian Left Party6070.100
Independents5630.100
Invalid/blank votes5,250
Total555,4631001010
Registered voters/turnout897,24361.9
Source: Nohlen & Stöver,[5] IPU

References

  1. Savisaar's and Kruuda's mutual gifts
  2. Lõhestaja number üks Archived 2007-10-06 at the Wayback Machine Postimees
  3. Estonia to hold first national Internet election, News.com, February 21, 2007
  4. Estonia Scores World Web First In National Polls, InformationWeek February 28, 2007
  5. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, pp585–588 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
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