When a Right-Wing Populist Party Inherits a Mass Party Organisation: The Case of EKRE

Abstract

When the Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond (EKRE, Estonian Conservative People’s Party) took over the defunct but extensive party organisation of the Estonian People’s Union, it placed great emphasis on rebooting and extending the organisation and bringing in new activists. As a result, EKRE has grown into a full-fledged mass party type of organisation with all the characteristics associated to it. Furthermore, it has become the fastest-growing party in Estonia in terms of membership and been notably successful in electoral terms. This article focuses primarily on the question of how EKRE developed a mass party organisation with a strong, ideologically-devoted activist core and a remarkable presence on the ground. The article also demonstrates how the party offers a variety of opportunities for engagement to its members. In contrast to an archetypical right-wing populist party, the decision-making power is somewhat diffused within the party, though the party leader remains the public face and mouthpiece of the party. EKRE’s online engagement strategies have been among the most successful in recent Estonian politics and make the party stand out. The article demonstrates that parties can often revise as well as repurpose the features of the predecessor parties and even build defunct mainstream parties into mass parties with a firm ideological core.

Automated stance detection in complex topics and small languages: The challenging case of immigration in polarizing news media

“…This includes the radical right online news portal Uued Uudised, a channel whose news are often ideologically in line with and give voice to the political party of EKRE ("Conservative People's Party of Estonia"). In academic literature EKRE has often been classified as a radical right populist party [22,[24][25][26][27] whilst the party describes itself as national conservative [26,28]. Uued Uudised has been described as both alternative [22] as well as hyper partisan media [28].…”

“…In academic literature EKRE has often been classified as a radical right populist party [22,[24][25][26][27] whilst the party describes itself as national conservative [26,28]. Uued Uudised has been described as both alternative [22] as well as hyper partisan media [28]. It was established in 2015 during the EU immigration crisis.…”

“…Radical-right discourse has been an underresearched topic in Estonian context [22]. Political science has focused on communication of the parties themselves [27,28,32], while textual analyses have often focused on social media [22,26,30]. These qualitative studies can benefit from a large-scale quantitative approach through automated stance and sentiment detection offering a complementary perspective.…”

Far right: The significance of an umbrella concept

“…In a similar vein, the populist radical-right Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest, VB) has made investments to rejuvenate its brand by targeting young voters (Cerulus, 2019). This strategy is best exemplified by the election of Tom van Grieken to party chairman Estonia's Independence Day as well as the Etnofutur conference-an event attracting Identitarians and far-rightists from across the globe (Saarts et al, 2021). Finally, the populist radical-right Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany, AfD) has ostensibly attempted to keep the inbred völkisch 'Flügel' ('Wing') at bay over concerns on its compliance to democratic principles (Müller, 2020).…”

“…The youth section of the populist radical‐right Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond (Conservative People's Party of Estonia, EKRE), Sinine Äratus (Blue Awakening), serves as breeding ground for party elites. Sinine Äratus was affiliated to the now‐defunct Swedish extreme‐right Nordisk Ungdom (Nordic Youth) and plays a key role in organising the annual torchlight march on Estonia's Independence Day as well as the Etnofutur conference—an event attracting Identitarians and far‐rightists from across the globe (Saarts et al, 2021). Finally, the populist radical‐right Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany, AfD) has ostensibly attempted to keep the inbred völkisch ‘ Flügel ’ (‘Wing’) at bay over concerns on its compliance to democratic principles (Müller, 2020).…”