Estonia's Two Largest Parties Reach Coalition Deal Avoiding Snap Election

Following the resignation of Estonia PM Juri Ratas' gov't two weeks ago, the country's two largest parties have reached a coalition deal that avoids snap elections and sees Estonia get its first female prime minister.

• Kaja Kallas, leader of the centre-right Reform Party has reached a deal with Ratas' populist big-tent Centre Party to form an uneasy grand coalition between the two largest parties in the Riigikogu (parliament).
• With Kallas' pro-EU centre-right party now serving as the senior partner in the governing coalition, and the right-wing eurosceptic Conservative People's Party forced into opposition, a shift in Tallinn towards a more cooperative stance with Brussels is likely.
• The continued presence of the Centre Party - often seen as the party representative of Estonia's Russian-speaking minority - in gov't will mean that there is unlikely to be a marked change in attitudes towards Russia.
• The two parties combined hold 59 seats in the 101-member Riigiukogu, meaning the gov't holds a comfortable majority. However, these two parties are historic opponents in Estonian politics that do not traditionally work together. As such there is the prospect of significant disagreements at the policy level meaning the potential for instability.