However, leading party members say the party will run full lists of candidates.
Founded in 2018, Eesti 200 won its first Riigikogu seats, 14 of them, at the 2023 election. However the party has been dogged by controversy since then, including an exodus of prominent founding members in 2023 and a donation to Ukraine embezzlement scandal which embroiled one of its MPs in the same year.

Minister of Education Kristina Kallas, Eesti 200's first leader, was reinstalled in that role last August, replacing Lauri Hussar, the Riigikogu speaker.

Hussar's predecessor as leader had been Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna: When he took over as leader in November 2023 Eesti 200's rating stood at 6 percent, but had fallen to around 4 percent according to most pollsters by the time he stepped down in August 2024.

The rating continued to fall during Hussar's tenure and has not picked up since Kallas returned to the helm: In most recent polls Eesti 200 rates below the 5 percent threshold needed to win seats, and sometimes below the 2 percent required to qualify for state support.

Kallas has said Eesti 200 should stay in the fight and continue representing a liberal worldview, hoping this will revive fortunes.

"There is still a year until the elections; an enormous amount can change in that time," Kallas, who is seeking re-election at this Sunday's party general meeting, said.

However MP and party board member Ando Kiviberg sees things differently. "If we see that by a certain date our rating is where it is, then in my opinion there is no point in burning our own energy and money on elections," Kiviberg told Äripäev.

Kiviberg noted to ERR that he was not talking about whether he personally will run, but was commenting on the fact that if the party sees its support is not growing, there is little point in running next spring.

In a situation where support is low and the likelihood of re-entering the Riigikogu is small, it may be difficult to find enough people campaign workers or funding.
Kallas said this was only Kiviberg's personal opinion, and nothing of the sort is planned within the party, a line echoed by party board member and former Tallinn deputy mayor Aleksei Jašin. "Taking into account all the information I have — this is the opinion of a single board member," Jašin said.

Kallas also said defections would be unlikely, and compiling the the 2027 Riigikogu electoral lists is underway, with a view to finalizing these in January.

Tsahkna too said the party will take part in the elections. "There is no such position among our people. There was also a discussion in our group this morning. No one sees the possibility that Eesti 200 would stay out of the elections," Tsahkna said.

"That will is there, our faction is staying together, we are in government, no one is going anywhere, even though there is constant speculation. So we still have our say to make in Estonian politics," Tsahkna went on.

More thought should be given to how to better convey the party's messages to voters in order to raise its rating, however, he added, citing the view of leaders outside the party.

"For example, Prime Minister Kristen Michal has said that we are like a company whose economic indicators are very good, whose balance sheet is in order, but for some reason its market value on the stock exchange does not currently reflect reality. We need to bring that into line. There is definitely potential here," Tsahkna added.

Jašin meanwhile said there will be no issue in finding an adequate number of candidates who will appeal to voters, nor will there be one on finance.

"Each quarter, Eesti 200 receives €170,000 from the state budget, plus membership fees and donations, totaling around €200,000 in recent quarters," he noted.

The party is not, like Isamaa, dependent on one or two major donors, either.
As for this weekend's general meeting, this will involve voting on the party's board as well as its leader, as well as drawing up the pre-election manifesto, Jašin went on.

Eesti 200 first entered office in 2023 with the Reform Party and the Social Democrats (SDE). The latter party was expelled from office last year, leaving Eesti 200 in office with Reform in a bipartite coalition.

The Eesti 200 general meeting had originally been scheduled for later in the year but was brought forward to this month.

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