When a Right-Wing Populist Party Inherits a Mass Party Organisation: The Case of EKRE

Tõnis Saarts,Mari-Liis Jakobson,Leif Kalev

doi:10.17645/pag.v9i4.4566

Abstract

When the Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond (EKRE, Estonian Conservative People’s Party) took over the defunct but extensive party organisation of the Estonian People’s Union, it placed great emphasis on rebooting and extending the organisation and bringing in new activists. As a result, EKRE has grown into a full-fledged mass party type of organisation with all the characteristics associated to it. Furthermore, it has become the fastest-growing party in Estonia in terms of membership and been notably successful in electoral terms. This article focuses primarily on the question of how EKRE developed a mass party organisation with a strong, ideologically-devoted activist core and a remarkable presence on the ground. The article also demonstrates how the party offers a variety of opportunities for engagement to its members. In contrast to an archetypical right-wing populist party, the decision-making power is somewhat diffused within the party, though the party leader remains the public face and mouthpiece of the party. EKRE’s online engagement strategies have been among the most successful in recent Estonian politics and make the party stand out. The article demonstrates that parties can often revise as well as repurpose the features of the predecessor parties and even build defunct mainstream parties into mass parties with a firm ideological core.

Highlights

In spring 2012, the Eestimaa Rahvaliit (ERL, Estonian People’s Union)—a defunct, but formerly major party—and a minor radical right activist group, the Eesti Rahvuslik Liikumine (ENM, Estonian Nationalist Movement), announced a merger and the creation of a new party: the Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond (EKRE, Estonian Conservative People’s Party)
EKRE is often classified as a populist radical right parties (PRRPs) (Mudde 2016, p. 7; see Braghiroli & Petsinis, 2019; Kasekamp et al, 2019; Petsinis, 2019) as our interviews indi‐ cate, the members prefer to see themselves as “national conservatives.”
One should not underestimate the role played by the former Estonian president Arnold Rüütel, who had served as a prominent member of ERL and later became the honorary chairman of the EKRE

Summary

Introduction

In spring 2012, the Eestimaa Rahvaliit (ERL, Estonian People’s Union)—a defunct, but formerly major party—and a minor radical right activist group, the Eesti Rahvuslik Liikumine (ENM, Estonian Nationalist Movement), announced a merger and the creation of a new party: the Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond (EKRE, Estonian Conservative People’s Party). In legal terms it was a name change and not recognised as a true merger (because one was a party and the other a small movement). The interviewees were drawn from a diverse spectrum of activists who varied in terms of their age, gender, and period of party membership (see Supplementary File)

The Origins and Development of EKRE

The Efforts to Build and Maintain a Mass Party Type of Organisation

Centralisation of Power and Internal Democracy in EKRE

Findings

Conclusion