2 Estonian parties in tight election, try to block populists
AP
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Voters feel their ballots at a polling station during a parliamentary elections in Tallinn, Estonia, Sunday, March 3, 2019. Estonians are voting in a parliamentary election Sunday in the small Baltic nation in a ballot where Prime Minister Juri Ratas and his Center Party are pitted against the center-right opposition Reform Party and where populists are seen making inroads. (Photo: AP)

The left-leaning party of Estonia’s current prime minister and the small Baltic country’s main center-right opposition party competed in a tight parliamentary election Sunday with the shared goal of keeping a far-right populist rival from making further inroads.

The election in Estonia, a member of NATO and the European Union, pitted Prime Minister Juri Ratas’ Center Party against the center-right Reform Party. Both main contenders hope to keep the nationalist Estonian Conservative People’s Party at bay.

The anti-immigration, xenophobic and euroskeptic EKRE, led by father and son Mart and Martin Helme, won 8.1 percent of the vote and seven seats in parliament in the last election.

“It will be quite sad if we fall towards populists, as it has happened with other countries, even with the United States,” voter Peter Janson told The Associated Press at a polling station in Tallinn.

Estonia has a population of 1.3 million, and nearly 1 million voters were eligible to elect representatives for four-year terms in the 101-seat Riigikogu legislature.

Campaigning has mostly focused on social and economic issues, such as taxes. Center campaigned mainly on public benefits, such as increasing pensions and better support for young families. Reform focused on job creation and improving the climate for businesses.

Ratas, 40, has led a coalition government made up of his Center Party, the Social Democrats and the conservative Fatherland since November 2016. His government replaced a center-right government torn by internal disputes that lost a confidence vote.

The Center’s backers include ethnic Russians, who make up 25 percent of the population in Estonia, a former Soviet republic.

Ratas’ government substantially increased excise duties on alcohol, partly on health grounds. The Baltic nation has one of the highest rates of alcohol-related deaths in Europe.

Center and its coalition partners also reformed Estonia’s flat income tax system, a cornerstone of the economy.

The Reform Party held the prime minister’s post continuously from 2005-2016. Its internal divisions led to the party changing leaders several times in recent years.

Its current head, Kaja Kallas, became the party’s first female leader last year. She is the daughter of Siim Kallas, one of the Reform Party’s creators and a former prime minister.

Kallas, a lawyer and a former European Parliament lawmaker, said Ratas’ Cabinet “has totally messed (up) the tax system.excise duties, income tax system and people are really annoyed by this.”

All parties, including the EKRE, agree that NATO and the EU are the cornerstones of Estonia’s security and foreign policy.

Polls have put Center and Reform neck and neck, with many predicting a slight win for Center. EKRE appeared set to emerge in third place.

About 26 percent of Estonians cast votes online by a Feb. 27 deadline. Electronic voting pioneer Estonia was the first country in the world to use online balloting for a national election in 2005. No online voting takes place on election day.