Reform tops Estonia election

TALLINN - The ruling Reform party will lead Estonia for another term following a sweeping victory in Sunday's national elections.

Early results indicate that the Reform Party won 28.6 percent of the votes, resulting in 33 seats in the 101-member parliament. This will give the party, headed by Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, two more seats in the Riigikogu.

The results were widely expected and conform relatively closely to the predictions made by pre-elections polls.

Coalition partners IRL also had a strong showing, winning just over 20 percent of the vote to secure 23 seats - a gain of four seats. The results will allow the two parties to continue with their current coalition set-up.

The main opposition party, The Centre Party, lost three seats in the election to end up with 26 in the new parliament.

The Centre Party's leader,former prime minister and current Tallinn City Mayor Edgar Savisaar, was plagued by allegations ahead of the election that he had accepted money from Russia to fund his campaign.

The only other party to cross the 5 percent threshold were the Social Democrats, who made significant gains, winning 19 seats in the new parliament - nearly twice as much as the 10 seats they previously held.

Two parties - the Greens and the People's Union - failed to garner enough votes to win a seat in parliament.