MEP Marina Kaljurand Will Not Run in Estonian Parliamentary Election
Estonia's Social Democratic Party says MEP Marina Kaljurand will not stand in next spring's Riigikogu election. Foreign Ministry Secretary General Jonatan Vseviov will head the party's list in Harju and Rapla counties instead.
Estonia's Social Democratic Party (SDE) has announced that Marina Kaljurand, a Member of the European Parliament, will not run in next spring's Riigikogu (Estonian parliament) election, which takes place on March 7. Jonatan Vseviov, the Foreign Ministry's secretary general, who is soon leaving that post, will take her place as a candidate in the Harju and Rapla counties electoral district.
Party leader Lauri Läänemets confirmed that the party had taken Kaljurand's wishes into account. She ran in the same district in the 2023 election. In April, Kaljurand told broadcaster ERR that she did not see herself continuing in politics once her current European Parliament mandate ends. She is a former Estonian foreign minister and ambassador to Russia and the United States, and has been an MEP since 2019.
Prime ministerial candidate to lead the list
Läänemets explained that the prime ministerial candidate usually runs in Harju and Rapla counties. If the party council confirms Vseviov as its candidate for prime minister this Sunday, he will also top the list in that district. Vseviov is a long-serving secretary general and security expert who joined SDE earlier this month. He will step down from the ministry post in November.
National list and electoral system
SDE often places its leading candidates at the bottom of its national list. Under Estonia's modified d'Hondt system, this lets parties maximize compensation mandates, as candidates lower on a list receive surplus votes from higher-profile candidates who have already won seats. The approach has sometimes backfired on the party: former Riigikogu Speaker Eiki Nestor, for example, left politics as a result. Läänemets acknowledged the Nestor case was not a success, but said the system, set up 15 years ago, has generally served the party by making candidates work harder and giving more people a chance to enter parliament.
The party board will discuss the national list around the beginning of January. An electoral assembly is also planned for January, to approve the national list, the lists in all 12 districts and the platform.
Because Kaljurand is an MEP, she did not take up the Riigikogu seat she won in 2023; it went to the next candidate on the list.
