In the months ahead of Estonia's next local government elections this fall, Parempoolsed is head and shoulders above the rest of the country's nonparliamentary parties in terms of both ratings and financial resources. The others are lacking both money and candidates.

"As a two-year-old party, we're going to run in as many local governments as possible, but our priorities are definitely Tallinn, Tartu, Pärnu, the municipalities immediately surrounding the major cities, and of course wherever we have people active and wanting to put up candidate lists in their local communities," Parempoolsed chair Lavly Perling told ERR.

Perling said that the party hopes to raise over €100,000 for their campaign budget.

"That would be about the average cost of a campaign for a smaller party in local government elections," she explained. "What the exact number will be is obviously too soon to say. It tends to be a five- or six-figure number — more likely six figures. Time will tell whether that [figure] starts with a one or a two."

According to the party chair, Parempoolsed haven't yet discussed who their front-runner candidates are, including whether she herself will run as the mayoral candidate in Tallinn.

"There are various options," she noted. "There are also many people among Parempoolsed's ranks who would definitely be prepared to take on that role. For another thing, maybe the right person is someone outside the party who has solid experience in local-level politics."

Even so, Perling wouldn't rule out the possibility of running for mayor of Tallinn herself. "I'm the party chair, and if needed, that decision will be made too," she said.

"I'm committed to making sure Parempoolsed performs very well in the local elections, especially in Tallinn, which is undeniably the driving force of the economy," Perling added.

Parempoolsed's campaign slogan for this fall is "Confidently for the Better" ("Kindlalt paremaks").

Nationalists and Conservatives focusing on Tartu

Jaak Valge, a member of the board of the Estonian Nationalists and Conservatives (ERK), told ERR the party has not yet started drawing up its candidate lists.

"Our stronger areas are Tartu and Harju and Rapla counties," Valge noted. "But we haven't gotten that far yet, and there's no need either. If possible, we'll commission another poll to see how popular our people are in various places, and then we'll start putting those lists together."

He said it's by no means certain the party will field a full list of candidates in Tallinn.

"It may so happen in Tallinn that we'll run together with someone, or as part of an electoral alliance," he acknowledged. "We haven't decided yet."

Though it's not set in stone yet, Valge believes ERK chair Silver Kuusik will be their candidate for mayor of Tartu.

"My plan is to gradually step back from politics," he said about his own potential candidacy. "If I run in Tartu, then likely as the last name on the list."

ERK, which was established last summer, plans to spend as much money on its election campaign as it can possibly manage.

"Money is tight," Valge admitted. "We hardly have any donors at all. Our own people have donated. But we do have a lot of dues-paying members. Somehow, we're just not very entrepreneur-focused. Entrepreneurs aren't interested in donating to us. We're not unequivocally right-wing; on that scale, we're more moderate. And entrepreneurs are rational people too — they don't want to support a party polling at 1-2 percent."

He noted that the party will organize an internal donation drive, and make sure that all membership dues have been paid.

"We'll definitely scrape something together," Valge confirmed. "And let's just say, we've talked to a few entrepreneurs and it's likely they'll donate something — but those won't be big sums."

He added that ERK's campaign slogan is "Facing Toward Estonia" ("Näoga Eesti poole"), with the tagline "More principled than Isamaa, friendlier than EKRE."

Greens leaders to run in Tallinn

The Estonian Greens have also begun preparing for this fall's elections, but party co-chair Evelyn Sepp did not wish to comment further to ERR regarding front-runner candidates or candidate lists.

"Work on our platform is underway, various negotiations are in progress, we're going over various candidate lists, and looking for opportunities to cooperate," Sepp described. "There's quite a lot of work going on right now."

According to the co-chair, the party plans to field a candidate list in several bigger cities. In smaller, more rural municipalities, meanwhile, they plan to run either in cooperation with electoral alliances or with their own lists.

As for who might end up the Greens' mayoral candidate in Tallinn, Sepp said it's still too soon to say. She did confirm, however, that both she and the party's other co-chair, Rasmus Lahtvee, plan to run in the capital.

Sepp hopes to recruit candidates from outside the party as well.

"If someone feels they're a free person with a voice, thoughts and ideas, then we'd very gladly invite them to join forces with us, so that local life can finally become cross-party and finally gain its rightful place in representing the interests of the local people," she said.

"This fall, the Greens will definitely be among the decision-makers who will shape local life for the next four years," Sepp emphasized.

The Estonian Greens have not yet finalized their campaign slogan for this fall. As for their overall campaign budget, the co-chair said it would be better to speak about that after the elections.

Free Party focusing on municipalities

The Free Party, formally the Free Party Come to Your Senses (Vabaerakond Aru Pähe), was founded in 2020 under a different name in the merger of the former Free Party and the Richness of Life Party.

Free Party chair Märt Meesak told ERR that while it's difficult to run alongside the bigger parties in Tallinn and Tartu, they still plan to field candidate lists there.

"We're focusing more on rural areas — meaning municipalities," he confirmed. "The exact number will be determined over the summer, but I believe it might be around 20."

The party is unlikely to field lists in Pärnu or Narva.

Meesak said it's still too early to talk about front-runner candidates, but said they've been in touch with people, and that they're working on assembling their candidate lists.

Campaign funding, meanwhile, is admittedly a painful topic.

"The sum will likely be relatively modest, and we'll need to be resourceful — whether through social media or by setting up street tents," the Free Party chair acknowledged. "A massive ad campaign in commercial media or huge billboards probably aren't going to happen. I think the budget will be in the thousands, at best."

At an election seminar held in Palamuse this past Sunday, the party also confirmed its campaign slogan for this fall: "Free to Be Better" ("Vaba on olla parem"). According to Meesak, this means freedom for communities, as well as more freedom from the central government for municipalities and cities, not to mention security in general.

Although still too early to name all of the party's lead candidates, Meesak confirmed that the Free Party's Tartu list will be led by Vahur Kollom. Meesak himself plans to run in Elva Municipality.

Koos party taking part in elections, won't rule out Peterson candidacy

Igor Hoop, a board member of the party Koos, told ERR that they definitely plan to run in this fall's elections in Tallinn and Ida-Viru County, adding that they have not yet decided about other cities.

"We're definitely going to run," he confirmed. "But we're still in the process of discussions and agreeing on candidate lists."

Regarding campaign financing, Hoop acknowledged that money is a challenge for them.

"We never have any money at all," he admitted. "The plan is for everyone to pay their own way."

He added that the party doesn't have any campaign slogans, and that the candidates themselves will express what they feel is important.

According to Hoop, the party hasn't ruled out that Aivo Peterson — who is currently behind bars awaiting trial on treason charges — may also run for election.

"In April, we're waiting for the final court hearing, and we'll hear what happens there," he explained. "Maybe we'll still need to wait for the court's decision. Then we'll see whether he'll run or not. Whatever the verdict, we believe Aivo didn't do anything wrong. He's a normal person."

ERR was unable to reach the Left Party for comment.

Estonia's next local government elections will be held on October 19.

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