HELSINKI (AP) - A senior Estonian politician has resigned from the Center Party’s leadership to protest a decision to start government formation talks with a euroskeptic populist party that made big gains in last week’s general election - despite promises not to talk with them.
Raimond Kaljulaid said Tuesday the Center Party and the nationalist, anti-immigration Estonian Conservative People’s Party, EKRE, have different values and called its economic program “absurd.”
EKRE came in third in the March 3 election with 17.8 percent of votes.
Caretaker Prime Minister Juri Ratas’ Center Party turned to EKRE on Monday after refusing formation talks with the center-right Reform Party.
In the election, the Reform Party became Estonia’s largest party but failed to win a majority while the Centrists were runner-ups. Both had excluded cooperation with EKRE.
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