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Estonia’s ruling Reform Party wins election

28% of the vote guarantees the Reform Party of Prime Minister Taavi Roivas, the senior partner in a current two-party coalition, 30% in the 101-seat parliament

© ITAR-TASS/Sergei Stepanov

TALLINN, March 2. /TASS/. /TASS/. Estonia’s ruling centre-right party won an election on Sunday with 28% of the vote, the country’s electoral commission said.

This result guarantees the Reform Party of Prime Minister Taavi Roivas, the senior partner in a current two-party coalition, 30% in the101-seat unicameral parliament, or Riigikogu, said commission spokeswoman Kristi Kirsberg.

Its main challenger, the opposition centre-left Centre Party was second on 25% of the vote, corresponding to 27 seats in the parliament.

About 900,000 Estonian citizens who have reached 18 years of age have the right to vote. On the face of it, some 87,800 holders of the so-called ‘grey passports’ - most of them Russian native speakers who are 'stateless persons' - are deprived of voting rights. People who are denied the right to vote make up 6.5% of the Baltic state’s population.

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