Estonia is treated as a single electoral district for the purposes of European elections, and registered parties may run a maximum of nine candidates.

Parempoolsed spokesperson Kristjan Jõevere said: "The work concerning the list, the party program and the campaign is nearing completion."

"As early as February, at Parempoolsed's 'winter school,' the most active party members had been able to exchange their views with the leaders in their fields regarding climate, security, EU law, foreign policy and future challenges facing the EU."

Meanwhile the party, founded in 2022 and contesting its first ever European election, is to draw up its European Parliament elections candidate list at a party congress planned for April 13.

Jõevere would not be drawn on who the potential candidates might be, including even on party leader Lavly Perling, though Perling herself has told ERR that she would be running.

In any case, Jõevere said, the party will run with the full nine candidates and aims to take a minimum of one seat.

European issues which Parempoolsed would stand for include protecting Estonia's interests, which Jõevere said has not always been done by MEPs up to now, rethinking the all-encompassing nature of EU legislation versus domestic law, and tailoring EU law to Estonia, as against "Old" Europe.

Evelyn Sepp: Greens are back on the political scene

Meanwhile the Greens leader, Evelyn Sepp, also said her party was going with full list, with the aim of obtaining one seat, too.

Sepp said: "The Greens are absolutely and seriously back on the political scene. There is no doubt that we are also a highly credible alternative to everything that has been going on in Estonian domestic politics today, as well as what happens with the larger factions at the European Parliament."

The party will unveil its list at the end of this month, Sepp said, but would not be drawn on candidates, save for confirming that she would be running – not necessarily in the number one spot.

The list will have plenty of balance in terms of areas of expertise, age etc., she went on.

The European Parliamentary elections take place June 6-9, with polling day in Estonia on the last of these days, a Sunday. Estonia has seven MEPs, up from six post-Brexit.

The Estonian Greens have never held a European seat, though have in the past held Riigikogu seats, and currently have two municipal councilors. The party had until recently had two co-chairs, but with last month's departure of  Mihkel Kangur from one of these posts, Evelyn Sepp remains sole leader.

In addition to the major parties, many independent candidates also run in European elections. As per EU requirements a proportional representation system is used in elections, in Estonia's case, the same d'Hondt system as is used in domestic direct elections, rather than the single transferable vote system which used to be used in the UK. As with Riigikogu and local elections, e-voting features heavily, and an advance voting period for this runs in the days leading up to polling day.

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