Isamaa is a
Christian-democratic and
national-conservative
National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity. National conservatives usually combine nationalism with conservative stances promoting traditional cultural values, ...
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 Publica Party
Res Publica Party ( et, Erakond Res Publica) was a political party in Estonia that self-identified as conservative. Established as a party on 8 December 2001, the political organisation Res Publica was founded already as early as 1989 and exist ...
. Up to
the 2007 parliamentary elections, the party held 32 seats out of 101 in the
Riigikogu and one of Estonia's six seats in 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 ...
. The party is a member of the
European People's Party
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...
(EPP). The merged party consisted of two separate boards and two party leaders, which was replaced by a unified board and leader in May 2007. The party's prime minister candidate was
Mart Laar, who became a chairman of the party. In 2018, its name was changed to "Isamaa", meaning literally "Fatherland".
Ideologically, it has been positioned on the
centre-right
Centre-right politics lean to the Right-wing politics, right of the Left–right politics, political spectrum, but are closer to the Centrism, centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure a ...
or
right-wing
Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...
on the political spectrum, and it is
economically liberal
Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism, ...
.
History
Pre-foundation
Prior to the merger, there was an extreme drop in public support for Res Publica after the government led by
Juhan Parts was forced to step down, and Pro Patria had also been relatively marginalized after the fall of their own governing coalition. There was also concern among conservatives about splitting the vote between two parties with largely similar ideologies and being unable to oppose the much more cohesive left wing electorate, which was mostly rallied behind the
Centre Party. On 4 April 2006, representatives from the
Pro Patria Union and
Res Publica decided to merge the two parties, which took place officially on 4 June 2006. Although originally the name For Estonia (''Eesti Eest'') was considered for the newly formed party, it was rejected, and the provisional name was used until the new name was adopted in 2018.
On 15 November 2006 the parties were officially merged as Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (''Erakond Isamaa ja Res Publica Liit'').
2007–2015
In
2007 Estonian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Estonia on 4 March 2007. The newly elected 101 members of the 11th Riigikogu assembled at Toompea Castle in Tallinn within ten days of the election. It was the world's first nationwide vote where part of the ...
the party won over 18 per cent of the vote and joined coalition, led by their former junior coalition partners, the
Reform Party. This cooperation was retained up until 2014, when the
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 ...
replaced The Fatherland as junior coalition partner.
2015–2022
In
2015 parliamentary election, IRL lost 9 seats and managed to keep 14. It joined the Reform Party and Social Democrats to form the government under
Taavi Rõivas. As the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union was the biggest loser in the elections, chairman
Urmas Reinsalu announced he would resign as party chairman after the party's congress in June 2015. On 6 June 2015, he was replaced by
Margus Tsahkna.
On 7 November 2016, the SDE and IRL announced that they were asking Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas to resign and were planning on negotiating a new majority government. In the following coalition talks Center Party, SDE and IRL formed a new
coalition
A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces.
Formation
According to ''A Gui ...
led by the
Centre Party's chairman,
Jüri Ratas
Jüri Ratas (; born 2 July 1978) is an Estonian politician who was the 18th prime minister of Estonia from 2016 to 2021. He has been Leader of the Centre Party since 2016, and was the mayor of Tallinn from 2005 to 2007.
Jüri Ratas' first cab ...
. The new coalition was sworn in on 23 November. In April 2017, Tsahkna announced that he would not seek re-election as chairman. He was followed by
Helir-Valdor Seeder on 13 May 2017. On 26 June 2017, Tsahkna and MP
Marko Mihkelson announced that they were leaving the party, dropping the amount of IRL MPs to 12.
After
2019 parliamentary election, Isamaa joined government with Centre Party and
Estonian Conservative People's Party. This government collapsed on January, 2021, when Jüri Ratas resigned as Prime Minister.
In 2021, tensions over cooperation with EKRE within the party became public and caused split. Dissenters on August, 2022, formed
Parempoolsed
Parempoolsed () is a self-declared fiscally conservative political party in Estonia. As of September 2022, the party has only one member of parliament: Siim Kiisler.
History
The party was formed in August 2022, mostly by a split-off group of ...
(Right–wingers).
By July 2022, Centre Party was expelled from the governmental positions. As a result, the government, led by
Kaja Kallas
Kaja Kallas (; born 18 June 1977) is an Estonian politician who has been serving as the prime minister of Estonia since 2021. The leader of the Reform Party since 2018, she was a Member of Parliament from 2019 to 2021, and previously between 2 ...
, briefly governed in
minority
Minority may refer to:
Politics
* Minority government, formed when a political party does not have a majority of overall seats in parliament
* Minority leader, in American politics, the floor leader of the second largest caucus in a legislative b ...
. After negotiations with the Social Democratic Party and the Fatherland, a new coalition was formed.
Electoral results
Parliamentary elections
European Parliament elections
Chairmen
*
Taavi Veskimägi
Taavi Veskimägi (born 20 November 1974) is a former Estonian state official and politician and the managing director of the Estonian electric power transmission system operator Elering.
He is a former Minister of Finance (2003–2005) and one ...
(Res Publica) and
Tõnis Lukas
Tõnis Lukas (born 5 June 1962) is an Estonian politician, former Minister of Culture from 2019 to 2021 and Minister of Education and Research from 1999 to 2002 and from 2007 to 2011.
Life
Lukas was born in Tallinn, Estonia. After graduating f ...
(Pro Patria) (2006–2007)
*
Mart Laar (2007–2012)
*
Urmas Reinsalu (2012–2015)
*
Margus Tsahkna (2015–2017)
*
Helir-Valdor Seeder (2017–present)
See also
*
:Isamaa politicians
References
External links
Official website
{{International Democrat Union
2006 establishments in Estonia
Political parties established in 2006
Christian democratic parties in Europe
International Democrat Union member parties
Conservative parties in Estonia
Member parties of the European People's Party
National conservative parties
Social conservative parties
Political parties in Estonia