ESTONIA:The Estonian prime minister Andrus Ansip was set for a narrow win in a parliamentary election yesterday, leaving him in pole position to form a coalition in the Baltic state.
"Coalition talks will start tonight and they could last for a month . . . It's clear that right-wing parties have got a good victory," Mr Ansip told Estonian television.
With votes in from 623 of the 657 polling stations, Ansip's centre-right Reform Party had 30 seats in the 101-seat parliament, just one more than current coalition partner, the left-wing Centre Party.
The main nationalist party Pro Patria-Res Publica was making a stronger-than-expected showing in third place on 19 seats and could be also be chosen by Mr Ansip for coalition talks.
During the campaign, parties showered voters with promises to cut taxes or boost wages and pensions in a nation which has enjoyed growth of more than 11 per cent in the past year but faces warnings of overheating.
Though technologically advanced enough to last week become the first in the world to allow internet voting, the small Baltic state is still one of the poorest in the European Union.
Opinion polls show the left-leaning Centre Party and centre-right Reform Party, the core of the current coalition, will take most seats in an election which has been overshadowed by increased tensions with Russia.
Centre Party head Edgar Savisaar or Reform Party chief and prime minister, Andrus Ansip, could lead the government after the first election since Estonia joined the EU and Nato in 2004.
"I am voting for more realistic policies, for policies that will help all Estonians, not just some," said 21-year-old Viktor, who declined to give his second name after voting in central Tallinn for the Centre Party.
A poll in Postimees newspaper on Saturday gave Centre and Reform 29 to 32 seats each in the 101-seat parliament.
Earlier polls have shown a new Reform-Centre coalition will likely need a third party for a majority. Their current partner is the People's Union, the former farmers' party.
Polling stations closed at 8 pm [6pm Irish time] and a preliminary final result was expected late last night.
By 4 pm, four hours before the polls closed, turnout was 50.6 per cent. In 2003 turnout was 58 per cent.
Mr Savisaar was prime minister after Estonia split from the former Soviet Union in 1991 but lost the post in 1992.
As interior minister, he had to resign in disgrace in 1995 after accusations he had secretly taped political rivals.
An adviser to Mr Savisaar said she had done the taping, but he had to step down anyway.
Pledges from both Centre and Reform show little hint of adopting more fiscal policy restraint to slow consumption-led growth and brake inflation, which forced Estonia to delay euro entry from 2007 to 2010 at the earliest.