EKRE leader downplays poll slump, targets strong showing ahead of Estonia vote

On Saturday, Estonia's right-conservative EKRE will elect a party chairman at its congress, and the only candidate is the party's current leader, Martin Helme. EKRE is not aiming to top Estonia's next election but hopes to secure a kingmaker role.

How are you set with candidates — how many are running for chairman?

As far as I know, there is currently one candidate for chairman. By now the candidates are already locked in. All candidates had to be nominated a week before the congress. For the board it's roughly two people per seat, and for the council there is quite heavy competition again, about four people per seat, so we are well supplied with candidates.

The government's support rating fluctuates around 14–15 percent for the two parties combined. Do you expect this government to last until the next elections in March of next year, or could something still happen?

It seems to me that Prime Minister Kristen Michal's position is so thin, so weak, that he does not want to make any move that could rock the boat. When there was speculation that some ministers might be changed or there might be reshuffles, that would probably give a bit of air and oxygen to the government. Bring in some fresh faces, and perhaps remove the most unpopular ministers from the picture.

To me it looks like, because Michal's position is so fragile, he will not make any moves and will continue like this until the elections. The separate question is whether this government will simply hold out. It seems to me that the government will definitely not last as a majority government until the elections; that is, it will lose its parliamentary majority, even officially.

We already have situations where the coalition's votes in parliament do not come together for certain bills; they just sit on the shelf or are taken off the agenda. But sometime in the fall, after the presidential elections, this situation will probably also officially become such that the two coalition parties' parliamentary groups are no longer large enough to have a majority together.

You see a minority government as likely, but do you believe the alliance can even function as a minority government? It has also been discussed that presidential elections are approaching, and many members of the governing parties will likely try to secure their futures.

In the Riigikogu, it does not appear from any angle right now that the presidential elections will produce a result. The bar here is very high — 68 votes. Everyone is currently counting on the very strong likelihood that the elections will move to the Electoral Col