Last summer, an internal dispute in EKRE led to the party board expelling critics Henn Põlluaas, Jaak Valge, and Silver Kuusik. This resulted in hundreds of members leaving the party. Among those who left were MEP Jaak Madison and Riigikogu members Ants Frosch and Alar Laneman.

Helme acknowledged on Monday that this may have affected the party's local-level operations.

"Probably more than we ourselves thought. We definitely need to conduct an analysis, region by region. From an organizational standpoint, we have been satisfied that everything is functioning, that all the so-called holes have been patched up, and the internal atmosphere in the party is undoubtedly much better than it was a year ago. But when we look at the regions that took a big hit, we definitely have to consider the possibility that the effects of last year's dispute carried over into the election results, to our detriment. Maybe we were a bit too optimistic," Helme said.

However, the chairman said, in general, there is no reason for despair.

"There are several factors to consider. We did not go into this election expecting to win everywhere. On the contrary, it was clear that Isamaa was aiming to win this election, and perhaps some other parties in certain regions," Helme said.

Politics comes in waves, he said. "There was a high wave, now there isn't, and another high wave will come. These waves work in such a way that if you can sense or correctly assess the public mood and resonate with it, the wave will lift you. If you fail to grasp it, then you're at the bottom of the wave," he said, adding that EKRE is not at the bottom.

"If we compare this to 2021, then unlike in 2021, we did not have that wave this time. Back then, the party's overall support had been higher for a while than it is now. We were also aware that if we could maintain our positions as they are, it would be good," he added.

"The third thing is that we were once again present in almost all Estonian municipalities, and in nearly all of them we are represented on the council. And in more places than after the 2021 elections, we are now engaged in coalition negotiations. So in fact, we are expanding our power base in local governments," Helme said.

Tallinn result was disappointing

The party chairman said the election result in Tallinn was a disappointment. "In Tallinn, we seriously need to consider what we need to do differently to better connect with voters," Helme said.

"We need to analyze why things did not go well in Tallinn. The first, obvious factors are already clear. If we compare this time with last time — even just looking at the lead candidates by district — last time we had more nationally known names. We thought the party brand alone would carry us, but clearly it did not work well enough. Maybe some of our messages were not as finely tuned as we thought. All of this definitely needs further analysis," he told the show.

"Maybe in some places expectations were higher, but I do not see any reason for depression. What we can say today is that our party's strength still lies in rural areas," Helme concluded.

The EKRE leader once again repeated his claim that e-voting in Estonia is unfair.

EKRE received 48,478 votes nationwide, placing fifth among the parties. In Tallinn, EKRE failed to win any seats on the city council.

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