Estonia's Eesti 200 Rules Out Merger With Greens Ahead of 2027 Election

Eesti 200, a member of Estonia's governing coalition, decided at its council meeting on Sunday not to merge with the non-parliamentary Estonian Greens before next year's parliamentary (Riigikogu) elections. The decision shapes how the party will approach the vote, although whether it will run at all has not yet been settled.

Consultations on a possible merger between the two parties had been held earlier. Eesti 200 has now chosen not to open merger negotiations with the Greens.

The party's head of communications, Johannes Merilai, said the Greens' policies differ from those of Eesti 200 and that a merger would add nothing to the party's core identity, which rests on progressive and liberal views. He acknowledged that the Greens hold strong positions on certain issues, but said it was unclear whether joining the two parties would bring any benefit.

Participation in the election still open

Merilai stressed that Sunday's meeting did not address whether Eesti 200 will take part in next spring's Riigikogu elections at all. In his words, there is still time to decide and no need to rush. The party is currently preparing for the elections and aims to field a full slate of candidates, but no final decision was made on Sunday.

MPs' plans

Toomas Uibo, chairman of the Eesti 200 parliamentary group in the Riigikogu, said in a social media comment on Thursday that he does not intend to run in the next parliamentary elections. Fellow party member Irja Lutsar announced similar plans in July. Only about three and a half months ago, party leader Kristina Kallas had said that, to her knowledge, all Eesti 200 MPs were prepared to seek reelection.

Poll support

The latest weekly poll by the Institute for Societal Studies and polling firm Norstat Eesti put support for Eesti 200 at 1.2 percent.