Social Democratic Party (Estonia)
에스토니아 사회민주당
A centre-left social-democratic party in Estonia. In September 1990 several social-democratic groups merged into the Estonian Social Democratic Party (ESDP) with Marju Lauristin as chair; it merged with the Rural Centre Party in 1996 as the Moderates and with the People’s Party in 1999 as the Moderate People’s Party, and took its present name on 7 February 2004. It has joined several coalition governments, and its Toomas Hendrik Ilves was elected president in 2006.
In depth
According to the Estonian source, the Estonian Social Democratic Party (ESDP) was founded in Tallinn on 8 September 1990 by the merger of the Estonian Democratic Labour Party, the Estonian Social Democratic Independence Party (ESDIP), the Russian Social Democratic Party of Estonia and the Foreign Association of the Estonian Socialist Party, which had operated in Sweden after the Second World War. The ESDIP had emerged from the Popular Front in June 1990 with Lauristin as chair, and the new party was led by Lauristin from 1990 to 1995 and then by Eiki Nestor until 1996. It became a full member of the Socialist International in October 1990, and it regards itself as the oldest continuously active party, heir to a social-democratic movement that began in 1905.
According to the English source, the ESDP formed an electoral alliance with the Rural Centre Party for the 1992 and 1995 elections, and after electoral defeat the two merged in 1996 as the Moderates (Mõõdukad). In 1999 the Moderates and the centre-right People’s Party, formed in 1998, merged into the Moderate People’s Party; after a joint list in the 1999 election it formed a governing coalition with Pro Patria Union and the Reform Party. It joined the Party of European Socialists in 2003 and, after disappointing results that year, renamed itself the Social Democratic Party on 7 February 2004.
The party was the most successful in the 2004 European Parliament election with 36.8% and three MEPs, and its Toomas Hendrik Ilves was elected president on 23 September 2006. It joined the Reform-led coalition in 2007 and won 17.1% and 19 seats in 2011. From April 2023 to March 2025 it was a junior coalition partner in the third Kallas government and the Michal government, and on 29 March 2026 its general assembly elected Lauri Läänemets as chairman.