Kallas Emerges Victorious in Estonian Election

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has emerged victorious in the Baltic nation’s legislative election, a result likely to see Tallinn maintain its pro-Ukraine position.

Statistics with 98% of ballots tallied placed the far-right EKRE party in second place, with 16.1% of the vote compared to Kallas’ liberal group’s 31.5%, indicating some voters’ concerns regarding the rising cost of living in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

If Kallas, 45, is successful in forming a functional coalition, it will solidify Estonia’s pro-European orientation.

The election, according to Kallas, has put her party in a strong position to create a coalition government that will continue to exert pressure on Moscow.

Our hostile neighbor has not disappeared and will not disappear, therefore we must work with it,” she told reporters at a hotel in central Tallinn where party supporters had congregated for the evening.

Reform won the 2019 election, but was barred from power by the coalition of three smaller parties. It fell in 2021, allowing Kallas to form a coalition and assume control.

Similar to the previous election, 63.7% of eligible voters participated, with 51% of ballots cast through the internet, including Kallas’.