Russian Party in Estonia

Russian Party in Estonia

Vene Erakond Eestis
Русская партия Эстонии
Russian Party in Estonia Vene Erakond Eestis; Русская партия Эстонии
Founder	Aleksei Sorokin
Founded	1920
Dissolved	2012
Merged into	Social Democratic Party
Ideology	Russian minority interests; Plurinationalism; Cultural autonomy
Political position	Centre-left
Colours	Blue
	Politics of Estonia; Political parties; Elections;

The Russian Party in Estonia (Estonian: Vene Erakond Eestis, VEE; Russian: Русская партия Эстонии) was a minor centre-left political party in Estonia.^[1]

History

The party was originally established as the Russian National Union (Estonian: Vene Rahvuslik Liit; Russian: Русский национальный союз), a right-of-centre party, in 1920.^[2] It received 1% of the national vote in the parliamentary elections that year,^[3] winning a single seat in the Riigikogu.^[4]

After Estonia regained independence after the fall of the Soviet Union the Russian Party of Estonia was established in 1994 as the legal successor to the Russian National Union.^[5] For the 1995 elections the party formed the "Our Home is Estonia" alliance with the Estonian United People's Party.^[6] The alliance won six seats.

The party ran alone in the 1999 elections, receiving 2% of the vote but failing to win a seat.^[7]^[8] The 2003 elections saw the party's vote share fall to just 0.2% as it remained without representation in the Riigikogu. It received 0.2% of the vote again in the 2007 elections and 0.9% in the 2011 elections, failing to win a seat on either occasion.

In 2012 the party merged into the Social Democratic Party.^[9]

Election results

Riigikogu

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Status
1920	8,623	1.8 (#9)	1 / 100	–	Opposition
1995	31,763	5.87 (#6)	6 / 101	–	Opposition
1999	9,825	2.03 (#9)	0 / 101	6	Extraparliamentary
2003	990	0.20 (#11)	0 / 101		Extraparliamentary
2007	1,084	0.20 (#10)	0 / 101		Extraparliamentary
2011	5,029	0.87 (#7)	0 / 101		Extraparliamentary

References

^ ^a ^b Yang, Yousun (2020). "How Internal Factors Afect the Performance of Ethnic Political Parties in Central and Eastern European Countries: A QCA‑Based Analysis". Chinese Political Science Review. 5 (1). Fudan University: 579. doi:10.1007/s41111-020-00159-w.
^ David James Smith, John Hiden (2012) Ethnic Diversity and the Nation State: National Cultural Autonomy Revisited, Routledge, p64
^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p582 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
^ Nohlen & Stöver, p586
^ Janusz Bugajski (2002) Political Parties of Eastern Europe: A Guide to Politics in the Post-Communist Era, M.E. Sharpe, p78
^ Nohlen & Stöver, p579
^ Nohlen & Stöver, p585
^ Nohlen & Stöver, p587
^ Social Dems Seal Merger with Russian Party Social Democratic Party