Isamaa

Fatherland Party Isamaa Erakond
Leader	Urmas Reinsalu
Founders	Taavi Veskimägi Tõnis Lukas
Founded	4 June 2006; 18 years ago (2006-06-04)
Merger of	Pro Patria Union Res Publica
Headquarters	Paldiski mnt 13, Tallinn
Youth wing	ResPublica
Membership (2024)	7,084[1]
Ideology	Christian democracy National conservatism Economic liberalism[2]
Political position	Centre-right to right-wing
European affiliation	European People's Party
European Parliament group	European People's Party
International affiliation	Centrist Democrat International International Democracy Union[3]
Colours	Blue   Dark blue[a]
Riigikogu	10 / 101
Municipalities	140 / 1,717
European Parliament	2 / 7
Party flag
Website
isamaa.ee
Politics of Estonia Political parties Elections

Isamaa (lit. 'Fatherland') is a Christian-democratic^[4][2] and national conservative^[5] political party in Estonia.^[6]

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".^[7]

Ideologically, it has been positioned on the centre-right^[8] or right-wing^[2] on the political spectrum, and it is economically liberal.^[2]

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.^[9] 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.^[10] On 6 June 2015, he was replaced by Margus Tsahkna.^[11]

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.^[12] 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.^[13] In April 2017, Tsahkna announced that he would not seek re-election as chairman.^[14] He was followed by Helir-Valdor Seeder on 13 May 2017.^[15] On 26 June 2017, Tsahkna and MP Marko Mihkelson announced that they were leaving the party, dropping the amount of IRL MPs to 12.^[16]

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.^[17]

In 2021, tensions over cooperation with EKRE within the party became public and caused split. Dissenters in August 2022, formed Parempoolsed (Right–wingers).^[18]

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.^[19] Minister of Foreign Affairs, Urmas Reinsalu of Isamaa, became Estonia's deputy prime minister.^[20]

2023–present

In the 2023 parliamentary election, Isamaa received 8.21% of the vote and won 8 seats.^[21]

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.^[22]

Starting from August 2023, Isamaa saw its support rocket to unprecedented historic highs.^[23][24] 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.^[25][26][27] In June 2024, Isamaa was the biggest party of Estonia in European parliament elections with 21,50% of the vote.^[28]

Election results

Parliamentary elections

Election	Leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Government
2007	Tõnis Lukas Taavi Veskimägi	98,347	17.87 (#3)	19 / 101	New	Coalition
2011	Mart Laar	118,023	20.52 (#3)	23 / 101	4	Coalition (2011–2014)
						Opposition (2014–2015)
2015	Urmas Reinsalu	78,699	13.71 (#4)	14 / 101	9	Coalition
2019	Helir-Valdor Seeder	64,239	11.44 (#4)	12 / 101	2	Coalition (2019–2021)
						Opposition (2021–2022)
						Coalition (2022–2023)
2023		50,118	8.21 (#6)	8 / 101	4	Opposition

European Parliament elections

Election	List leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	EP Group
2009	Tunne-Väldo Kelam	48,492	12.22 (#4)	1 / 6	New	EPP
2014		45,765	13.93 (#3)	1 / 6	0
2019	Riho Terras	34,189	10.29 (#5)	1 / 7	0
2024		79,170	21.51 (#1)	2 / 7	1

Chairmen

• Taavi Veskimägi (Res Publica) and Tõnis Lukas (Pro Patria) (2006–2007)
• Mart Laar (2007–2012)
• Urmas Reinsalu (2012–2015 and from 2023)
• Margus Tsahkna (2015–2017)^[29]
• Helir-Valdor Seeder (2017–2023)^[30]

See also

• Category:Isamaa politicians
• List of political parties in Estonia

Notes

1. As Pro Patria and Res Publica Union

References

1. "Äriregistri teabesüsteem" (in Estonian). Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
2. Hyndle-Hussein, Joanna (4 March 2015). "The parliamentary elections in Estonia". Centre for Eastern Studies.
3. "Members | International Democracy Union". 1 February 2018.
4. Marju Lauristin; Sten Hansson (2019). "Estonia". In Miloš Gregor; Otto Eibl (eds.). Thirty Years of Political Campaigning in Central and Eastern Europe. Springer International. p. 27. ISBN 978-3-03-027693-5.
5. "Isamaa erakonna maailmavaate aluspõhimõtted – Isamaa Erakond" (in Estonian). Retrieved 20 October 2024.
6. Bakke, Elisabeth (2010). "Central and East European party systems since 1989". In Ramet, Sabrina P. (ed.). Central and Southeast European Politics Since 1989. Cambridge University Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-1-139-48750-4.
7. "Our History". Isamaa.ee. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
8. "Estonia". Freedom in the World 2016. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019.
9. "Otseülekanne: kolme erakonna koalitsioonileping saab allkirjad". Postimees. 8 April 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
10. "Reinsalu to resign as IRL chairman". ERR. 26 June 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
11. "Tsahkna named IRL chairman, pledges to unite party". ERR. 26 June 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
12. "Government falls as Social Democrats and IRL leave coalition". ERR. 7 November 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
13. "President appoints Jüri Ratas' government". ERR. 23 November 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
14. "Tsahkna not to seek reelection as chairman of IRL". ERR. 26 June 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
15. "Helir-Valdor Seeder elected chairman of IRL". ERR. 26 June 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
16. "Tsahkna ja Mihkelson lahkuvad IRListTsahkna ja Mihkelson lahkuvad IRList". Postimees. 26 June 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
17. "Estonian prime minister Juri Ratas resigns amid corruption allegations". euronews. 13 January 2021. Archived from the original on 17 May 2023.
18. Whyte, Andrew, ed. (16 August 2022). "Lavly Perling sole candidate for Parempoolsed leader". ERR. Archived from the original on 24 September 2023.
19. Sytas, Andrius (15 July 2022). Donovan, Kirsten; Lawson, Hugh (eds.). "Estonian parliament confirms PM Kallas to lead new government". Reuters. Archived from the original on 7 August 2023.
20. Wright, Helen, ed. (20 July 2022). "Reinsalu becomes Estonia's deputy prime minister". ERR. Archived from the original on 17 May 2023.
21. Deloy, Corinne (2023). "Success for liberal parties, and populists lose in Estonian parliamentary elections". Robert Schuman Foundation. Archived from the original on 17 May 2023.
22. Tanner, Jari (12 April 2023). "Estonia's Parliament approves PM Kaja Kallas' 3rd Cabinet". AP NEWS. Archived from the original on 2 July 2024.
23. Whyte, Andrew; Ots, Mait, eds. (21 February 2024). "Ratings: Isamaa's support rises further still". ERR. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
24. Kook, Urmet (16 February 2024). "Kantar Emor ratings: Isamaa support reaches historic high, Center Party's slump continues". ERR. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
25. Cole, Michael, ed. (20 October 2023). "Party ratings expert: The situation is revolutionary". ERR. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
26. Whyte, Andrew; Väino, Valner, eds. (16 February 2024). "Ratings special: Jüri Ratas has been a boost to Isamaa". ERR. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
27. Saarts, Tõnis (26 November 2023). "Tõnis Saarts: The EKRE triumph that never happened". ERR. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
28. "Estonia". europa.eu.
29. Beltadze, Georgi (6 June 2015). "IRLi esimeheks valiti Margus Tsahkna". Postimees. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
30. "IRL-i uueks esimeheks sai Helir-Valdor Seeder". ERR. 13 May 2017. Retrieved 13 May 2017.

External links

• Official website