The party, which has been languishing below the 5-percent threshold needed to win seats in most ratings over the past few months, did manage to surpass that threshold in Tartu.

However while Eesti 200 won seats in that seat of learning and home of the education ministry, the party suffered a wipeout in the 78 remaining municipalities nationwide, including in Tallinn, where it had held city council seats before the election. The party's board and Riigikogu faction met Monday morning to discuss the election results.

"In fact, the team's mood was quite positive. Despite remaining below the threshold in Tallinn, our feeling is that we still achieved a better result than expected. The work people did in the field during the campaign eventually paid off in motivation. Today I feel that people are still positively motivated. We don't have any sort of gloomy atmosphere right now," Kallas said, adding that she "absolutely does not agree" with statements that the party had performed poorly.

"We were forecast to get 1.2 percent in Tallinn, but we did considerably better than that. In Tartu, we were predicted to stay below the threshold, yet we crossed it there. In Tartu, we are also potential coalition partners. So we did not perform extremely badly. Those are exaggerated judgments which are not objective. From our own internal analysis with the team today, we don't see this as an extremely bad result," the Eesti 200 leader said.

Kallas added that she will not be stepping down as leader and that there are no plans for any extraordinary leadership elections.

"The board and the parliamentary group asked me quite concernedly whether I had any plans to resign. I told them I don't, and I presented my vision to the board and the group on how we need to move forward from here," Kallas said.

No one else inside the party expects her to step down either, Kallas added.

What Eesti 200 does need to do is analyze thoroughly the election results and draw lessons from that, as well as to clarify its platform and positions, Kallas noted.

"The bigger job lying ahead of us now is to hold consultations within the party with our members. But the work we have done over the past year to maintain and strengthen team spirit did yield fruit in these elections — we saw no signs of disintegration, and people, even in Tallinn, were out in full force," Kallas said.

Kallas also spoke candidly to "Aktuaalne kaamera" about the causes of Eesti 200's big drop in the ratings – from one of the most supported parties in the land, winning 14 seats at the March 2023 general election, to falling below the electoral threshold for the first time the following year in the wake of scandals and controversy.

Primary among these was the ongoing Johanna Marie Lehtme case, which sees a former Eesti 200 MP currently on trial for embezzlement of funds intended to aid Ukraine.

"Certainly, one major mistake was that we didn't take a clear and quick position in the Johanna Marie Lehtme case. Internal scandals never make anyone look good — they always severely damage voter trust. Of course, the internal frictions have been a very painful experience for us and have cost us trust. I also think we failed to properly analyze the last European Parliament election results. We decided to replace the party leader, but we never did a thorough feedback and analysis of why those elections went the way they did. This time, that analysis must be done," Kallas said.

Kallas: Eesti 200 not a party of career politicians

Journalist Indrek Kiisler noted that after Eesti 200's loss, members of the Riigikogu faction might start thinking about their political futures and start looking toward other parties. Kiisler asked why Eesti 200 members ought to remain in the party and the Riigikogu faction, right until the next Riigikogu elections in 2027.

"Eesti 200 is not a party of career politicians. Even in our parliamentary group, we don't have people whose main focus has been a political career. Not once has any group member suggested that we should merge with someone or start operating differently from how we have done so far. So all those claims that our group is falling apart and that our members are seeking opportunities in other parties have been circulating for a year and a half. None of those claims have ever come true, and the reason is simple — we don't have professional politicians," was Kallas' response.

"I don't see our Riigikogu faction breaking apart right now; I have absolutely no fear of that," she added.

"In politics, there are always two choices — to disappear or to grow. For us, the current situation is one of growth," she continued.

Despite the ratings and the local elections showing, the party remains in office at the national level with Reform.

Kallas said that maintaining a stable governing coalition is vital in the current geopolitical climate and Eesti 200 certainly will not be the one to break it up.

Eesti 200 was founded in 2018 with Kallas as party leader. In summer 2023, not long after the Lehtme scandal broke, another Eesti 200 MP, Tarmo Tamm, did not take up the position of Riigikogu environment committee chair over conflict of interest claims in relation to his business interests in the timber sector. The party also saw an exodus of founding members in August 2023.

Kallas, the party's first leader, had herself been replaced by. Hussar became speaker of the XV Riigikogu and stepped down as Eesti 200 chair in November 2023, and was replaced by Tsahkna.

Kallas was replaced as Eesti 200 leader by Lauri Hussar in late 2022. After Hussar became Riigikogu speaker the following year, he stepped down as Eesti 200 chair. Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna was elected new leader. Tsahkna stepped down in summer 2024 following the European elections.

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