Reform wins local elections e-vote again
The Reform Party won the national e-vote by a large margin at last week's local elections. Reform picked up 64,459 e-votes compared with runner-up Center, at 42,748, while Reform's proportion of e-votes compared with total votes was over double that of Center.
Reform polled 101,295 votes overall, according to the State Electoral Committee (VPK) giving a percentage of 63.6 percent, e-votes compared with Center's 30 percent.
Of Reform's 64,459 e-votes, over 50 percent came in Harju County, while it was also most popular among e-voters in Pärnu, Järva, Tartu, Põlva, Valga and Järva counties, and on Saaremaa.
Center also picked up over half of its 42,748 e-votes in Harju County, while it was the most popular party among e-voters in Lääne- and Ida-Viru counties, and in Jõgeva County.
EKRE's 24,232 e-votes included 9,373 in Harju County. In one county, Rapla, the party was the most popular among e-voters. EKRE is highly critical of e-voting.
In total, 25,804 people cast a vote for Isamaa.
Eesti 200 garnered 23,514 e-votes. In total the party received 35,317 online and paper votes, meaning its e-vote share was over 66 percent - the highest of all the parties.
The Social Democrats (SDE) polled 17,293 e-votes, the bulk of which came in Harju County, while it was also most popular among e-voters in Võru County and on the island of Hiiumaa. In the latter case, SDE received more votes overall than any other party.
The Greens collected 4,050 e-votes.
All parties except Center and EKRE had more than 50 percent of their votes cast online.
Reform had dominated the e-vote at the 2019 Riigikogu elections, being first in that category in all of the 12 electoral districts bar Center's heartland of Ida-Viru County.
E-votes are cast during the advance voting period, which for this year's local elections ran from Monday, October 11 to Saturday, October 16.
Voting on polling day itself could only take place on paper. Those who had cast an e-vote earlier could override it with a paper vote on the day, but less than 2,000 voters, or under one percent, actually did so.
In total, 263,566 people cast an e-vote when polls closed Saturday evening, a record figure.
Readers with Estonian can view an interactive map with more details here.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Helen Wright
