Estonia's prime minister said he aimed to re-form his current centre-right coalition after winning an election, taking the credit for a successful launch of the euro and pulling the Baltic state out of recession.
The Reform Party of Prime Minister Andrus Ansip won 33 seats in Sunday’s election while current junior coalition partner, Pro Patria and Res Republica Union, won 23, figures on the website of the election commission showed.
That gave a total of 56 seats in the 101-seat house, six more than the parties together won in the last election.
"I prefer to continue with the same coalition," Ansip told Reuters Television after the vote.
"Our cooperation was really fruitful during all those good years, but also during the difficult times," he added.
"…but we all know that coalition negotiations are always very complicated," he said.
Ansip said he aimed to keep Estonia on a path of fiscal restraint in the debt-ridden single currency zone.
Keeping a tight rein on finances allowed the nation of 1.3 million to become the 17th euro zone member in January.
Newspaper Eesti Paeveleht said in an editorial after the vote it wanted "first and foremost real action to combat unemployment and revitalize the Estonian economy".
RECOVERY
The Reform Party campaigned under a slogan of "You can be sure" and touted its credentials as a good economic manager.
Estonia has the lowest debt burden in the European Union and one of the lowest fiscal deficits.
The Centre Party, the main opposition group, was hit by allegations it asked for funding from Russia, Estonia’s neighbour which is traditionally regarded with distrust. The party denied the allegations. It came second with 26 seats.
Russia has often criticised Estonia for failing to properly integrate its large Russian-speaking minority, many of whom do not have citizenship and cannot vote in national elections. Estonia has rejected such criticism.
The centre-left Social Democrats came fourth with 19 seats.
Estonia’s economic output dropped 14 percent during the 2009 recession, the third worst in the EU after fellow Baltic states Latvia and Lithuania.
The government had to cut spending to keep its budget deficit within euro zone limits to adopt the currency.
Estonia remains one of the poorest countries in the EU, which it entered in 2004, the same year it joined NATO.
Its fiscal situation is sound — the European Commission has forecast a total public sector budget deficit of 1.6 percent of output for 2011, in line with the euro area average.
State debt, forecast at 9.5 percent of output for this year, will be by far the lowest in the euro zone and well below the average 86.5 percent of gross domestic product. The government has pledged to get the budget back in balance by 2014.
