Estonia's pro-West party wins election focused on neighboring Russia

Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas was re-elected Sunday — (Image credit: Twitter/@BBCWorld)

Early Monday, Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas, 35, declared victory for his pro-Western Reform Party in Sunday's elections. With all votes counted, the Reform Party got 28 percent of the vote and 30 seats, beating the ethnic-Russian-favored opposition Center Party by five seats. In all, though, the ruling center-right coalition lost seven seats, giving it a 45-seat plurality in the 101-seat legislature.

A quarter of Estonia's population is ethnic Russian, and security concerns about an expansionist Moscow loomed large in the election. But all major political parties favor increased defense spending and continued membership in NATO. The main economic issue, The Associated Press reports, concerned whether to transform Estonia's 20 percent flat tax to a progressive tax, an idea opposed by the Reform Party and favored by the Center Party and the Social Democrats, a minority party in the governing coalition.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.