The Center Party spent over €43,000 in its campaigning ahead of last month's European Parliament election, according to data from the Political Parties Financing Surveillance Committee (ERJK). The Social Democrats (SDE) spent close to €200,000, Eesti 200 spent nearly €285,000, while Isamaa's election costs came closer to a million euros. The Reform Party spent around €500,000.

While the ERJK's website does not separately present the campaign expenses of parties, these expenditures can be estimated by comparing the political activity expenses of the first and second quarters, in other words the much higher second quarter expenses most parties incurred in the second quarter, minus the first quarter costs, give the approximate campaigning spend.

Center Party

Unlike with some other parties, comparing the political activity costs borne by the Center Party in the first quarter with those from the second quarter of this year (€76,102 and €85,879 respectively), reveals no major difference.

However, a change can be seen in the structure of expenses, where advertising expenses have quadrupled from €10,672 in the first quarter – to €43,162, while the expenses of public events and other political activities have decreased.

By candidate, Center's Jana Toom's campaign costs came to €15,022, of which €6,116 has been paid and €8,906 is yet to be paid.

Party leader Mihhail Kõlvart's costs were €17,728 (originally reported as €14,415 - ed.).

Lauri Laats's costs came to €12,354; €7,781 has been paid and a further €4,573 is yet to be paid.

Former culture minister Anneli Ott put in €1,458 towards her campaign, while former Tallinn Kesklinn elder Monika Haukanõmm contributed €154, according to ERJK data.

In total, Center's European elections costs were €43,401, of which nearly €20,000 is still to be paid.

Today, Monday, was the deadline by which parties running candidates at the European Parliament elections were required to file their report with the ERJK.

Former Tallinn mayor and current Center leader Mihhail Kõlvart won a seat at the June 9 election, but announced his intention to remain in domestic politics and stepped aside for the next candidate on the list – meaning Jana Toom returned as an MEP for a third term.

SDE expenditure almost €200,000

Meanwhile Social Democratic Party (SDE) candidates spent around €37,000 on the elections from their own resources, a total election spend of just under €200 000, the ERJK said.

SDE General Secretary Reili Rand stressed to ERR on Tuesday that the party's own expenses had to be added to the €37,052 contributed by candidates, while SDE's total election expenses should remain below €200,000, she said.

Rand added that as the party's reports are not due to ERJK until Wednesday, the committee's website in any case currently displays incomplete data.

SDE front-runner Marina Kaljurand incurred the highest campaign spending, with €22,300 spent on various campaign events and advertising. A third of this, or €7478, was spent on advertising across various Delfi Media channels.

Sven Mikser, second placed candidate on SDE's list, spent €14,101, most of which on advertising, this time via Postimees Group publications (totaling €4,917) as well as via Delfi Media and Õhtulehet (at €3,904 each).

Both Kaljurand and Mikser were re-elected as the party's two MEPs.

Tanel Kiik's campaign spend came to just €409 – Kiik only joined SDE earlier this year – while former MEP Ivari Padar was even more economical at €177 campaign spend; Tallinn Mayor Jevgeni Ossinovski's was only €65, though in any case he would not have been able to sit as an MEP without relinquishing the mayoral seat.

All SDE members had also paid their expenses from personal funds by Tuesday.

SDE ran a full nine-candidate list and won 71,171 votes at the June 9 elections. The newly elected MEPs' mandates began yesterday, July 8.

Isamaa spent nearly €1 million

Isamaa and its members spent nearly €1 million on the European Parliament election campaign, the ERJK said.

The party's political activity expenses for the second quarter of 2024 as a whole were reported as €767,163, while considering the first quarter expenses were €40,491, it can be deduced that the difference – €767,163 – went on European parliament campaign expenses

Considering that first-quarter political activity expenses were €40,491, the difference of €726,163 can be attributed to the party's expenditures to achieve better results in the June 9 European elections.

Candidates own contributions, totaling €252,816, bump the total up to close to a million euros.

Isamaa spent €687,200 on advertising, with €211,130 on internet ads, €135,959 on TV spots, €132,498 on radio spots, €132,303 on outdoor billboards, €75,886 on public events, and €61,882 on printed flyers and other marketing materials.

Isamaa doubled its number of MEPs to two at last month's election: Jüri Ratas, who gathered 33,612 votes as the anchor candidate on the party's list, and Riho Terras, who polled at 23,917 votes as the front runner candidate, are the two MEPs.

Terras also contributed the most, covering €21,435 himself and spending nearly €162,000 on his own campaign, which included outdoor ads, radio, internet and public events.

The largest expense incurred by Terras (€114,540) related to outdoor ads through Inspired Universal McCann OÜ, which also handled his internet and radio ads.

In addition to putting up his own money, Terras was also backed by BigBank owner Parvel Pruunsild (who contributed €30,000), pharmaceuticals, media and entertainment magnate Margus Linnamäe (donated €25,000), Milrem founder Kuldar Väärsi (also €25,000), Toggl founders Alari (€14,998) and Ahti Aho (€10,000), former Nordecon board members Priit Jaagant (€10,000) and Toomas Luman (€9,991), Hansabank founder Heldur Meerits (€8,685), Silberauto AS co-founder Väino Kaldoja (€3,564), and Olympic Entertainment Group majority shareholder Armin Karu (€2,964).

Ratas's campaign expenses totaled €39,691, with the largest expenses being television and outdoor ads worth around €11,000 through Inspired and €7,000 worth of printed materials from AS Kinkston.

His main sponsors were Pruunsild (€14,992), Alexela board chair Heiti Hääl (€10,000), Medicum AS director Jaanus Vool (€9,615), and sports center owner Mait Meriloo (€4,982).

Party leader Urmas Reinsalu spent €50,000 on his campaign, funded by tech investor Jaan Pillesaar (€20,000), Karu (€20,000), and Vool (€10,000).

Of the remaining six Isamaa candidates at the European election, former entrepreneurship minister Urve Paris Palo's expenses were €1,495, mostly spent on outdoor ads, which she covered herself.

On top of that, most candidates made donations in the first quarter of the year.

Former population minister Riina Solman (1,498 votes) had in the first quarter donated €6,220 to the party), former education minister Tõnis Lukas (1,593 votes) provided €1,847, former Kohtla-Järva mayor Virve Linder (1,001 votes gave €40), while Üllar Saaremäe (1,543 votes made no donation and did not pay membership fees), and Ahti Kallikorm provided €20,770 in membership fees and donations to Isamaa, though polled at only 258 votes.

Eesti 200 total expenditure nearly €285,000

Eesti 200's total European election expenditure came to around €285,000, and the party's political activity expenses rose tenfold during the campaigning period.

In the first quarter of this year, Eesti 200 spent €42,634 on its political activities, compared with €327,273 in the second quarter – a difference of €284,639, hence the figure above.

Eesti 200 spent €24,471 on advertising in the first quarter, but in the second quarter, this amount increased, also ten times, to €248,745.

The party also spent €53,439 on organizing public events in the second quarter, again a ten-fold rise on spend in the same category in the first quarter, when it was €4,648.

Public relations expenses were €24,110, nearly double the sum for the first quarter (€13,375).

Hendrik Johannes Terras stood out from among the candidates in spending €23,265 on his campaign. The funds themselves provided by businessman Joakim Helenius, a former Eesti 200 member, who continues to back Terras as a candidate.

Terras himself stumped up €78 towards his campaign, according to ERJK data.

Helenius told ERR he "communicates with Hendrik quite often, and I like him," citing Terras' honesty as a major positive.

Helenius denied expecting anything in return for the financial support.

Terras, who along with all Eesti 200 candidates did not win an MEP seat, said that he and Helenius share a common vision for Estonia's future.

"In matters where Estonia faces its greatest challenges in the three to seven-year plan, we have a common vision. We have discussed various solutions on how to approach these issues," he added.

Of the €23,265, €10,314 went to OÜ Hull Pull for work on TV spots and some other expenses, and around €9,000 was paid to Facebook's parent company Meta, based on data published on the ERJK site.

Helenius denied that this spending was wasted.

"I was not so naive as to think that Eesti 200 could win a seat in the European Parliament. I primarily wanted to support Hendrik and see that he achieved the best possible result compared with other party candidates," Helenius went on, adding that he is willing to support the party consistently again if Terras were to become Eesti 200 chair.

Terras has neither confirmed nor denied a bid for the party leadership, with elections to be held next month following Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna's announcement that he would be standing down as leader.

Terras initially also ran as chair in October 2022, but withdrew from the race, leading to a run-off between party co-founder and original leader Kristina Kallas, and current Riigikogu Speaker Lauri Hussar.

In the event, Hussar won, but later stepped down citing difficulties juggling the role alongisde being speaker. Kallas, current education minister, has announced she will run in the leadership election too.

Terras picked up 1,449 votes at the June 9 election, more than Tsahkna (1,416 votes), but fewer than Riigikogu defense committee chair Kalev Stoicescu (1,678).

Other politicians on the Eesti 200 list who ran had not declared personal campaign expenses at the time of writing.

Reform Party spent a little over half a million euros

The Reform Party spent a little over half a million euros on its campaign.

Former Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications Digital Development Undersecretary Luukas Kristjan Ilves (pictured) contributed the most on an individual basis, at €16,554.

Only two other candidates put up personal and donor funds in addition to Ilves: Urmas Paet, the lead candidate, who was re-elected and provided €315, and Maarja Metstak, who was eighth on the list of nine and spent €1,250.

While Metstak and Paet covered their expenses from personal funds, the majority of Ilves' campaign expenses were largely covered by donors.

Reform won one European seat (Urmas Paet), while the party had previously held two MEP mandates.

ERJK data shows that Ilves personally paid in €852, and his largest financial backers were: Tech guru Sten Tamkivi (who provided €4,000), Wise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus (put up €3,000), Premia Foods CEO Indrek Kasela (€2,750), business angel Veljo Otsason (€1,000), and Starship co-founder Magnus Hiie (€1,000).

The largest portion of Ilves' campaign costs was paid to Hedgehog Consulting OÜ, which received a total of €10,435 under "other campaign expenses."

The remaining campaign funds were used for advertising and organizing public campaign events.

Paet's and Metstak's campaign expenses went solely on advertising.

As noted above, political parties are not required to submit detailed election expenses, but the Reform Party's campaign costs can be indirectly assessed via the quarterly reports submitted to the ERJK.

In the first quarter of this year, the Reform Party spent €117,238 on political activities, while in the second quarter (the elections ended towards the end of the quarter, on June 9), the sum rose to €624,037, marking a difference of €506,238 between the two quarters – and thus roughly the amount Reform spent on its advertising.

In the second, third, and fourth quarters of 2023, the party's political activity expenses were below €87,000.

In the first quarter of this year, the Reform Party spent €27,440 on advertising, which increased to €466,093 in the second quarter.

Public event expenses were €23,853 in the first quarter, rising to €48,404 in the second quarter.

Miscellaneous political activity expenses came to €65,945 in the first three months of the year but €109,540 from April to June.

In addition, the party's personnel and operational expenses grew by about 10 percent over the second quarter.

In the first quarter of 2023, leading up to the most recent Riigikogu elections on March 5 of that year, the Reform Party's political activity expenses amounted to €2,155,280, according to ERJK data.

The deadline for submitting candidate reports for the European Parliament elections was July 8, while the deadline for parties to submit their quarterly reports was two days later, on July 10.

The Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE), Parempoolsed and the Estonian Greens also ran full nine-candidate lists on June 9.

Editor's note: This article was updated to include information on Isamaa, SDE Eesti 200 and Reform's European Parliament election spending, and to update reported Center Party figures.

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