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| Europe |
| Right-wing populist Estonian Conservative People's Party surges in general election |
| 2019-03-06 |
| [Voice of Europe] The bullies in Brussels are shaking in their boots once more as yet another national populist party, this time the Estonian Conservative People’s Party (EKRE), made significant gains in a national general election. Preliminary results from the completed ballot count of Estonian’s general election revealed that the center-right Reform Party received 28.8 per cent of the vote, while the senior partner in the governing coalition, the Center Party, garnered 23.1 per cent of the vote. The national populist Estonian Conservative People’s Party (EKRE) took 17.8 per cent of the vote, which is more than twice the votes that it received in the previous election. EKRE now holds 19 seats in the 101-seat Riigikogu, and represents the third largest party in the country. This comes just three months ahead of the European Parliamentary elections when voters across the continent will head to the polls to elect representatives in the EU parliament. Across Europe, nationalist and populist parties have made significant electoral gains in recent years. National populist parties have now taken hold of political power in Italy, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic, while in others countries like Germany and France, they have become the primary opposition voice. Those who have yet to gain a political foothold have forced centrist leaders to veer to the right. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |