Isamaa Explained

Country:Estonia
Fatherland Party
Native Name:Isamaa Erakond
Leader:Urmas Reinsalu
Founders:Taavi Veskimägi
Tõnis Lukas
Merger:Pro Patria Union
Res Publica
Position:Centre-right to right-wing
Membership Year:2024
Membership: 7,084[1]
International:Centrist Democrat International
International Democracy Union[2]
European:European People's Party
Europarl:European People's Party
Youth Wing:ResPublica
Headquarters:Paldiski mnt 13, Tallinn
Seats1 Title:Riigikogu
Seats2 Title:Municipalities
Seats3 Title:European Parliament
Flag:Flag of Isamaa party.svg
Flag Alt:Flag of the Isamaa

Isamaa is a Christian-democratic[3] and national-conservative political party in Estonia.[4]

It was founded on 4 June 2006 under the name of "Pro Patria and Res Publica Union", by the merger of two conservative parties, Pro Patria Union and Res Publica Party. Up to the 2007 parliamentary elections, the party held 32 seats out of 101 in the Riigikogu and one of Estonia's six seats in the European Parliament. The party is a member of the European People's Party (EPP). The merged party consisted of two separate boards and two party leaders, which was replaced by a unified board and leader in May 2007. The party's prime minister candidate was Mart Laar, who became a chairman of the party. In 2018, its name was changed to "Isamaa", meaning literally "Fatherland".[5]

Ideologically, it has been positioned on the centre-right[6] or right-wing[7] on the political spectrum, and it is economically liberal.

History

Pre-foundation

Prior to the merger, there was an extreme drop in public support for Res Publica after the government led by Juhan Parts was forced to step down, and Pro Patria had also been relatively marginalised after the fall of their own governing coalition. There was also concern among conservatives about splitting the vote between two parties with largely similar ideologies and being unable to oppose the much more cohesive left wing electorate, which was mostly rallied behind the Centre Party. On 4 April 2006, representatives from the Pro Patria Union and Res Publica decided to merge the two parties, which took place officially on 4 June 2006. Although originally the name For Estonia (Eesti Eest) was considered for the newly formed party, it was rejected, and the provisional name was used until the new name was adopted in 2018.

On 15 November 2006, the parties were officially merged as Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (Erakond Isamaa ja Res Publica Liit).

2007–2015

In the 2007 Estonian parliamentary election, the party won over 18% of the vote and joined coalition with, and led by their former junior coalition partners, the Reform Party. This cooperation was retained up until 2014, when the Social Democratic Party replaced The Fatherland as junior coalition partner.

2015–2022

In the 2015 parliamentary election, IRL lost nine seats and managed to keep 14. It joined the Reform Party and Social Democrats to form the government under Taavi Rõivas.[8] As the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union was the biggest loser in the elections, chairman Urmas Reinsalu announced he would resign as party chairman after the party's congress in June 2015.[9] On 6 June 2015, he was replaced by Margus Tsahkna.[10]

On 7 November 2016, the SDE and IRL announced that they were asking Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas to resign and were planning on negotiating a new majority government.[11] In the following coalition talks Center Party, SDE and IRL formed a new coalition led by the Centre Party's chairman, Jüri Ratas. The new coalition was sworn in on 23 November.[12] In April 2017, Tsahkna announced that he would not seek re-election as chairman.[13] He was followed by Helir-Valdor Seeder on 13 May 2017.[14] On 26 June 2017, Tsahkna and MP Marko Mihkelson announced that they were leaving the party, dropping the amount of IRL MPs to 12.[15]

After the 2019 parliamentary election, Isamaa joined government with Centre Party and Estonian Conservative People's Party. This government collapsed in January 2021, when Jüri Ratas resigned as Prime Minister.[16]

In 2021, tensions over cooperation with EKRE within the party became public and caused split. Dissenters in August 2022, formed Parempoolsed (Right–wingers).[17]

By July 2022, Centre Party was expelled from the governmental positions. As a result, the government, led by Kaja Kallas of Reform Party, briefly governed in minority. After negotiations with the Social Democratic Party and the Fatherland, a new coalition was formed.[18] Minister of Foreign Affairs, Urmas Reinsalu of Isamaa, became Estonia's deputy prime minister.[19]

2023–present

In the 2023 parliamentary election, Isamaa received 8.21% of the vote and won 8 seats.[20]

In April 2023, the new cabinet of Prime Minister Kallas, was made up of the Reform Party, the centrist Estonia 200 party and the Social Democratic Party. Isamaa became an opposition party.[21]

Starting from August 2023, Isamaa saw its support rocket to unprecedented historic highs.[22] [23] These gains in polling were mainly attributed to the party gaining three MPs and several other members defecting from the Centre Party, EKRE being seen as too extreme of an option as an alternative to the government coalition and the success of the newly elected party leader, Urmas Reinsalu, in attracting disgruntled Reform Party voters unhappy with its plans to raise taxes.[24] [25] [26] In June 2024, Isamaa was the biggest party of Estonia in European parliament elections with 21,50% of the vote.[27]

Election results

Parliamentary elections

ElectionLeaderVotes%Seats+/–Government
2007Tõnis Lukas
Taavi Veskimägi
98,34717.87 (#3)New
2011Mart Laar118,02320.52 (#3) 4
2015Urmas Reinsalu78,69913.71 (#4) 9
2019Helir-Valdor Seeder64,23911.44 (#4) 2
202350,1188.21 (#6) 4

European Parliament elections

ElectionList leaderVotes%Seats+/–EP Group
2009Tunne-Väldo Kelam48,49212.22 (#4)NewEPP
201445,76513.93 (#3) 0
2019Riho Terras34,18910.29 (#5) 0
202479,17021.51 (#1) 1

Chairmen

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Äriregistri teabesüsteem . 13 July 2024 . et . 23 July 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110723014848/https://ariregister.rik.ee/erakonnad.py . dead .
  2. Web site: Members | International Democracy Union. 1 February 2018.
  3. Book: Marju Lauristin. Sten Hansson. Estonia. Miloš Gregor. Otto Eibl. Thirty Years of Political Campaigning in Central and Eastern Europe. https://books.google.com/books?id=de62DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA27. Springer International. 2019. 978-3-03-027693-5. 27.
  4. Book: Bakke, Elisabeth. Ramet. Sabrina P.. 978-1-139-48750-4. Central and East European party systems since 1989. Central and Southeast European Politics Since 1989. Cambridge University Press. 2010. 79. https://books.google.com/books?id=oFXdiS25N78C&pg=PA79. Sabrina P. Ramet.
  5. Web site: Our History. Isamaa.ee. 1 September 2019.
  6. Web site: Estonia. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20190419112443/https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2016/estonia. 19 April 2019. Freedom in the World 2016.
  7. Web site: The parliamentary elections in Estonia. 4 March 2015. Hyndle-Hussein. Joanna. Centre for Eastern Studies.
  8. News: Otseülekanne: kolme erakonna koalitsioonileping saab allkirjad . Postimees . 8 April 2015 . 26 June 2017.
  9. Web site: Reinsalu to resign as IRL chairman. ERR. 9 March 2015. 26 June 2017.
  10. Web site: Tsahkna named IRL chairman, pledges to unite party. ERR. 6 June 2015. 26 June 2017.
  11. News: Government falls as Social Democrats and IRL leave coalition . ERR . 7 November 2016 . 26 June 2017.
  12. News: President appoints Jüri Ratas' government . ERR . 23 November 2016 . 26 June 2017.
  13. Web site: Tsahkna not to seek reelection as chairman of IRL. ERR. 10 April 2017. 26 June 2017.
  14. Web site: Helir-Valdor Seeder elected chairman of IRL. ERR. 13 April 2017. 26 June 2017.
  15. Web site: Tsahkna ja Mihkelson lahkuvad IRListTsahkna ja Mihkelson lahkuvad IRList. 26 June 2017 . Postimees. 26 June 2017.
  16. News: Estonian prime minister Juri Ratas resigns amid corruption allegations . euronews . 13 January 2021 . en . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230517192546/https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2021/01/13/estonian-prime-minister-juri-ratas-resigns-amid-corruption-allegations . May 17, 2023 .
  17. Web site: Lavly Perling sole candidate for Parempoolsed leader . 16 August 2022 . ERR . Andrew . Whyte . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230924052734/https://news.err.ee/1608685900/lavly-perling-sole-candidate-for-parempoolsed-leader . Sep 24, 2023 .
  18. News: Estonian parliament confirms PM Kallas to lead new government . Reuters . 15 July 2022 . en . Andrius . Sytas . Kirsten . Donovan . Hugh . Lawson . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230807122822/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/estonian-parliament-confirms-pm-kallas-lead-new-government-2022-07-15/ . Aug 7, 2023 .
  19. News: Reinsalu becomes Estonia's deputy prime minister . ERR . 20 July 2022 . en . Helen . Wright . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230517192250/https://news.err.ee/1608662218/reinsalu-becomes-estonia-s-deputy-prime-minister . May 17, 2023 .
  20. Web site: Success for liberal parties, and populists lose in Estonian parliamentary elections . Robert Schuman Foundation . 2023 . Corinne . Deloy . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20230517193545/https://www.robert-schuman.eu/en/eem/2034-success-for-liberal-parties-and-populists-lose-in-estonian-parliamentary-elections . May 17, 2023 .
  21. News: Estonia's Parliament approves PM Kaja Kallas' 3rd Cabinet . AP NEWS . 12 April 2023 . en . Jari . Tanner . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240702171149/https://apnews.com/article/estonia-parliament-coalition-government-kallas-303c3e68d2f6128ad6e3d7b7835f4543 . Jul 2, 2024 .
  22. Web site: Andrew . Whyte . Mait . Ots . 2024-02-21 . Ratings: Isamaa's support rises further still . 2024-02-27 . ERR . en.
  23. Web site: Kook . Urmet . 2024-02-16 . Kantar Emor ratings: Isamaa support reaches historic high, Center Party's slump continues . 2024-02-27 . ERR . en.
  24. Web site: Michael . Cole . 2023-10-20 . Party ratings expert: The situation is revolutionary . 2024-02-27 . ERR . en.
  25. Web site: Andrew . Whyte . Valner . Väino . 2024-02-16 . Ratings special: Jüri Ratas has been a boost to Isamaa . 2024-02-27 . ERR . en.
  26. Web site: Saarts . Tõnis . 2023-11-26 . Tõnis Saarts: The EKRE triumph that never happened . 2024-02-27 . ERR . en.
  27. Web site: Estonia . europa.eu.
  28. Web site: IRLi esimeheks valiti Margus Tsahkna . Georgi . Beltadze . Postimees . 6 June 2015 . 6 June 2015.
  29. Web site: IRL-i uueks esimeheks sai Helir-Valdor Seeder. 13 May 2017 . ERR. 13 May 2017.