TALLINN, Estonia (AP) – Estonia’s political parties prepared for coalition talks Monday after Prime Minister Andrus Ansip’s center-right Reform Party narrowly won national elections with pledges to cut the country’s flat tax.
The Reform Party received 27.8 percent of the votes Sunday, while its current coalition partner, the left-leaning Center Party, finished second with 26.1 percent, preliminary results showed.
The result gave the two coalition partners 60 seats in the 101-member Parliament, enough to become the first government to survive an election since the Baltic country regained independence in 1991.
However, Ansip did not rule out forming a new coalition with the more like-minded center-right IRL union, which is currently in opposition and finished third in the election with 17.8 percent.
IRL union leader Mart Laar on Monday said he would welcome joining Ansip’s party in a coalition government.
“The opportunity for forming a coalition of like-minded parties very clearly exists,” Laar told the Baltic News Service.
The two center-right parties won 50 seats in the 101-seat Riigikogu, so they would need a third coalition to form a majority government.
IRL union lawmaker Marko Mihkelson told The Associated Press a possible coalition partner would be the centrist Social Democrats, which finished fourth with 10.6 percent.
About 61 percent of the 895,000 registered voters participated in the election, including 30,000 who cast their votes over the Internet in a landmark online ballot. A final vote count was expected within days, barring court challenges.
The current government consists of the Ansip’s Reform Party, the Center Party and the small agrarian People’s Union.
Ansip and Center Leader Edgar Savisaar, Estonia’s first prime minister after regaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, have maintained a pragmatic political alliance for two years despite political differences.
Ansip pledged to continue lowering Estonia’s renowned flat tax and preserve the market-friendly policies credited for helping the country achieve impressive growth.
Savisaar, whose party draws support from Russian-speakers, favors a progressive tax system and a more generous welfare system to help narrow the gap between rich and poor.
An EU and NATO member since 2004, Estonia is known for its Internet technology and is a software development hub of online telephony company Skype. But the country grapples with some of the EU’s worst health statistics, including high rates of alcoholism, HIV infections and traffic-related deaths.
The former Soviet republic is also struggling to integrate its Russian-speaking minority – about one-third of the population – which often complains of discrimination because of Estonia’s stringent language laws.
Tensions with the Russian-speakers and with Moscow peaked recently over plans to dismantle the Bronze Soldier, a disputed Tallinn monument honoring Soviet soldiers killed in World War II.
The election was the world’s first Parliamentary ballot to allow Internet voting. Officials said the system proved reliable in municipal elections in 2005 despite concerns about hacker attacks, identity fraud and vote count manipulation.
Traditionally Estonia’s governments have been short-lived. None of the 12 Cabinets since 1991 have stayed in power for a full four-year term.
