Deputy speaker not ruling out conservative mergers
Helir-Valdor Seeder, the IRL veteran and Parliament's Deputy Speaker, predicts that the Estonian national conservative political parties will unite in the future.
Seeder told in an interview with Sakala newspaper that based on the past experience, it is more than likely that the right wing parties will merge.
In the early 1990s, the newly independent Estonia had tens of different political parties, but ultimately most either consolidated or ended their activities. In the national conservative wing, the Estonian National Independence Party and Isamaa (Pro Patria) joined forces in 1995 to form the Isamaaliit. The latter united with Res Publica party in 2006 to create the current IRL. However, after few years, internal conflicts surfaced and number of former IRL members founded the Free Party – which managed to win 8 seats at the last Parliament election.
But now Seeder appeared to predict that IRL and Free Party will find each other again in the future. “Free Party has not publicly said that they are national-conservative, but if we look at their electorate, their statements, and the fact that they have many former IRL members, there is no doubt that they are similar to us,” he said.
Seeder hinted that the Conservative Peoples' Party (EKRE) might also potentially blend in with others, saying that both IRL and EKRE share many voters who hold similarly conservative views. Seeder argued that taking into account the combined support for the two, it indicates an increased popularity for national-conservative views in Estonia.
Editor: S. Tambur