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Sorry - this page has been removed. Estonia's pro-Nato government claims election win
(4 months later)
This could be because it launched early, our rights have expired, there was a legal issue, or for another reason. Estonia’s centre-right prime minister claimed victory in an election on Sunday, cementing pro-Nato policies after a campaign dominated by fears of interference by neighbouring Russia following Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region.
Prime minister Taavi Roivas’ Reform party won 27.7% with almost all the votes counted, down from 28.6% it won in the last parliamentary election in 2011.
For further information, please contact: Its main challenger, the opposition centre-left Centre party, which favours closer ties with Moscow to ensure security for the small Baltic state, was second on 24.8% a gain from 23.3% in 2011.
“The Reform party is the winner of the 2015 elections,” Roivas said on ETV public television.
A free-marketeer, strongly pro-Nato and the youngest European Union leader at 35, Roivas is best placed to form a new government with other parties and is likely to continue conservative economic policies.
But he will have to widen his coalition from his current Social Democratic party ally since the two are now short of a majority in the 101-seat parliament.
Other major parties have ruled out cooperating in government with the Centre party, which gets about 70% of the Russian-speaking vote and signed a 2004 cooperation deal with Russian president Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party.
Asked if he would work with the Centre party, Roivas said: “Definitely not“.
The Centre party wants better ties with Moscow to help the Baltic state that was part of the Soviet Union until independence in 1991. It also says it wants to help the poor by raising minimum wages.
Under Reform-led coalition governments, Estonia has been one of few Nato members to keep defence spending at a Nato goal of 2% of gross domestic product.
Estonia’s economic policy has also been consistently conservative since 1992 with a flat income tax and fiscal policy that eschews issuing government debt and aims for a balanced budget.