An election for

Members of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Commu ...

from

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

was held on 7 June 2009. Turnout was 43.9% – about 17.1% higher than during the previous election five years before. The turnout was also slightly above the European average of 42.94%. Six seats were up for taking in this election: two of them were won by the

Estonian Centre Party The Estonian Centre Party ( et, Eesti Keskerakond, EK) is a populist political party in Estonia. It was founded in 1991 as a direct successor of the Popular Front of Estonia, and it is currently led by Jüri Ratas. The party was founded on 12 Oc ...

Estonian Reform Party The Estonian Reform Party ( et, Eesti Reformierakond) is a liberal political party in Estonia. The party has been led by Kaja Kallas since 2018. It is colloquially known as the "Squirrel Party" ( et, Oravapartei). It was founded in 1994 by Si ...

Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica Isamaa is a Christian-democratic and national-conservative political party in Estonia. It was founded on 4 June 2006 under the name of "Pro Patria and Res Publica Union", by the merger of two conservative parties, Pro Patria Union and Res Publi ...

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

and an independent candidate

Indrek Tarand Indrek Tarand (born 3 February 1964) is an Estonian politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Estonia. He is an Independent politician, but a member of the European Green Party. Tarand has served as an advisor to the Prime Mini ...

all won one seat each. The election result was remarkable in that the independent candidate Indrek Tarand gathered the support of 102,460 voters, only 1,046 votes less than the winner of the election, Estonian Centre Party, surpassing the results of all other major and minor parties. Another independent candidate, eurosceptical

Martin Helme Martin Helme (born 24 April 1976) is an Estonian politician, leader of the Conservative People's Party of Estonia, Conservative People's Party (EKRE), and a Far-right politics, far-right nationalist. From 2019 to 2021 he was the Minister of Fina ...

, surprised also in gaining 9,832 votes and thus surpassing one parliament party -

People's Union of Estonia The People's Union of Estonia ( et, Eestimaa Rahvaliit) was a political party in Estonia. Its last leader was Margo Miljand. In the 2003 parliamentary election, the party collected 64,463 votes, which made 13.0% share of all votes and 13 mand ...

- and gaining only 1,019 less than the next best on the list,

Estonian Greens The Estonian Greens ( et, Erakond Eestimaa Rohelised, EER) is a green political party in Estonia. Founded in 2006, the party held six seats in the Riigikogu from 2007 to 2011. Its objective is to ensure that Estonia's development is environmen ...

. The election was conducted using the

D'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highest- ...

with

closed list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively only vote for political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some inf ...

s. The success of independent candidates in this election has been attributed both to general disillusionment with major parties and use of closed lists which rendered voters unable to cast a vote for specific candidates in party lists.

Results

Elected Members of the European Parliament

Edgar Savisaar Edgar Savisaar (31 May 1950 – 29 December 2022) was an Estonian politician, one of the founding members of Popular Front of Estonia and the Centre Party. He served as the acting Prime Minister of Estonia, Minister of the Interior, Minister ...

(

) *

Siiri Oviir Siiri Oviir (born 3 November 1947) is an Estonian politician and Member of the European Parliament. Oviir was born in Tallinn. As an MEP, she belonged to the Estonian Centre Party until she decided to leave on 9 April 2012. Oviir is married to ...

(

) *

(independent) *

Kristiina Ojuland Kristiina Ojuland (born 17 December 1966 in Kohtla-Järve, Estonia) is an Estonian politician. She was the Foreign Minister of Estonia from 2002 through 2005. She was a member of the Estonian Reform Party from 1995 till 5 June 2013 and from 2009 ...

(

) *

Tunne Kelam Tunne-Väldo Kelam (born 10 July 1936) is an Estonian politician and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Estonia. He is a member of the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union, part of the European People's Party. Early life and educ ...

(

) * Ivari Padar (

) Edgar Savisaar renounced his mandate, leaving his seat to the third candidate in the party's list – his wife

Vilja Savisaar Vilja Toomast (born 15 August 1962, Antsla as Vilja Laanaru; 1996–2010 Vilja Savisaar; 2010–2015 Vilja Savisaar-Toomast) is an Estonian politician, a former Member of the European Parliament. She previously belonged to the Estonian Centre Par ...

. She was confirmed as a Member of the European Parliament on 7 July 2009.

External links

Election results on the web site of the National Electoral CommitteeResults of the Estonian European Parliament Elections in 2009

European Parliament elections in Estonia 2009 in Estonia {{Estonia-election-stub