Conservative People's Party of Estonia

The Conservative People's Party of Estonia (Estonian: Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond, EKRE) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Estonia led by Martin Helme. It was founded in March 2012 with the merger of People's Union of Estonia and Estonian Patriotic Movement while legally remaining the same entity as the People's Union of Estonia. Its first leader, Margo Miljand, served as the chairman until 2013 when he was succeeded by Mart Helme. Its popularity remained low until late 2014, when the party began to draw supporters from the right; in the 2015 Estonian parliamentary election, it passed the electoral threshold and won seats in parliament for the first time. Since then, its support has grown, turning it into one of the largest parties in Estonia. In the 2019 Estonian parliamentary election, EKRE placed third, winning 19 seats in total. Mart was succeeded as party chairman by his son, Martin Helme, in July 2020.

Since its inception, EKRE has been described as a radical right or a far-right party. The party's leadership rejects the left–right political spectrum. Widely described as a nationalist, ultranationalist, and national-conservative party, it opposes immigration, including Russian immigration, into Estonia. The party supports the transition of the public school education, which until now has been provided in Russian to the Russian-speaking Soviet immigrant minority in Estonia, into Estonian-language education, and wishes to implement Swiss-style direct democracy, e.g. popular initiatives. Due to its right-wing populist and anti-Russian rhetoric, it has been described by critics as xenophobic and racist. On social issues, it is traditionalist, while its foreign views are orientated towards Euroscepticism.