Estonia's ruling centre-right party took the lead after an election on Sunday overshadowed by fears that neighbouring Russia might interfere in the small Baltic State after annexing Ukraine's Crimea region last year.
The Reform Party of prime minister Taavi Roivas, the senior partner in a current two-party coalition, had 29.2 per cent with more than two-thirds of the votes counted against 28.6 per cent it won in the last parliamentary election in 2011.
The opposition Centre Party, which favours closer ties with Moscow to ensure security for Estonia, was second on 21.0 per cent against 23.3 per cent in 2011. Many Centre Party strongholds will report later on Sunday, making the final result unclear.
A free-marketeer and the youngest European Union leader at 35, MR Roivas is likely to be best placed to form a new coalition, even if the Centre Party ends up winning the most votes. Polls before the election had put the two roughly neck and neck.
Other big parties say they will not work with the Centre Party, which signed a 2004 co-operation deal with Russian president Vladimir Putin's United Russia Party. "Co-operation after the elections with the Estonian Centre Party would be very difficult for any of the other parties," Mr Roivas said before the vote.
The Centre Party says other parties may drop opposition to co-operating after the vote in the northernmost Baltic state of 1.3 million people, where about a quarter are Russian speakers.
Other parties accuse Centre Party leader Edgar Savisaar, the mayor of Tallinn who was an interim prime minister from 1991-92, of failing to condemn Putin's actions in Ukraine. They also say his party has misused public funds in Tallinn, a charge his Tallinn city-controlled government denies. The Centre Party, which gets about 70 per cent of the Russian-speaking vote, wants better ties with Moscow to guarantee security for the Baltic State that was part of the Soviet Union until independence in 1991. It also says it wants to help the poor, by raising minimum wages to €1,000 a month from €390.
It is unclear if the assassination of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov in Moscow on Friday, could affect the vote. Under Reform-led coalition governments, Estonia has been one of few Nato members to keep defence spending at a Nato goal of 2 pe rcent of gross domestic product. Estonia, a euro zone member since 2011, has the lowest public sector debt in the EU. Parties differ sharply over wages and tax policy. – (Reuters)