HELSINKI (AP) - A senior Estonian politician has resigned from the Center Party’s leadership to protest a decision to start government formation talks with a euroskeptic populist party that made big gains in last week’s general election - despite promises not to talk with them.
Raimond Kaljulaid said Tuesday the Center Party and the nationalist, anti-immigration Estonian Conservative People’s Party, EKRE, have different values and called its economic program “absurd.”
EKRE came in third in the March 3 election with 17.8 percent of votes.
People were interested in these podcasts
Caretaker Prime Minister Juri Ratas’ Center Party turned to EKRE on Monday after refusing formation talks with the center-right Reform Party.
In the election, the Reform Party became Estonia’s largest party but failed to win a majority while the Centrists were runner-ups. Both had excluded cooperation with EKRE.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.