The Estonian Liberal Democratic Party ( et, Eesti Liberaaldemokraatlik Partei), abbreviated to ELDP, was a

social liberal Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

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 ...

that existed between 1990 and 1994. The ELDP was founded on 9 March 1990, during the

Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic The Estonian SSR,, russian: Эстонская ССР officially the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic,, russian: Эстонская Советская Социалистическая Республика was an ethnically based adminis ...

, by the merger of the Liberal People's Party and the Free Democratic Party. The ELDP was granted observer membership of the

Liberal International Liberal International (LI) is a worldwide organization of liberal political parties - a political international. It was founded in Oxford in 1947 and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal parties, aiming to strengthen liberalism around ...

on 4 October 1990: the first

eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

an party to be admitted to the LI. Led by

Paul-Eerik Rummo Paul-Eerik Rummo (born January 19, 1942) is an Estonian poet, playwright, translator and politician who was the former Estonian Minister of Culture and Education, as well as the former Estonian Minister of Population Affairs. Rummo was born in T ...

, the party ran as part of the right-wing, radically pro-reform 'Fatherland'

electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political party, political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand ...

in the 1992 election, and won six of the bloc's 29 seats in the 101-seat

Riigikogu The Riigikogu (; from Estonian ''riigi-'', of the state, and ''kogu'', assembly) is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. In addition to approving legislation, the Parliament appoints high officials, including the Prime Minister and Chief Jus ...

. The party served, as with all of the Fatherland bloc, in the government of

Mart Laar Mart Laar (born 22 April 1960) is an Estonian politician and historian. He served as the Prime Minister of Estonia from 1992 to 1994 and from 1999 to 2002. Laar is credited with having helped bring about Estonia's Economy_of_Estonia#Restoration_o ...

, with Rummo as Minister of Culture and Education and

Heiki Kranich Heiki Kranich (born 9 October 1961 in Haapsalu) is an Estonian politician. He has been a member of the VII, VIII and XIV Riigikogu. In 1994 he was Minister of Finance. 1999-2003 he was Minister of the Environment An environment minister (someti ...

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

. Rummo and Kranich resigned from the government and the ELDP withdrew from the Fatherland group in parliament on 14 June 1993, when the party's proposal for a secret

vote of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

in Laar was defeated. The Liberal Democratic Party joined

Siim Kallas Siim Kallas (; born 2 October 1948) is an Estonian politician, former Prime Minister of Estonia, and former European Commissioner. He served as the European Commissioner for Transport between 2010 and 2014. Before that he was the European Commi ...

' (then president of the Bank of Estonia) initiative group which gathered liberals hitherto uninvolved in politics, to form on 13 November 1994Reformierakond - Ajalugu
(Estonian) the

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 ...

Footnotes

References

* Liberal parties in Estonia Defunct political parties in Estonia Political parties established in 1990 Political parties disestablished in 1994 1990 establishments in Estonia 1994 disestablishments in Estonia {{Estonia-party-stub