Party says it's conservative alternative

The Estonian Conservatives Club and the Farmer's Assembly have formed a new political party because they say Estonia's existing national conservative party, Pro Patria Union, isn't doing its job.

"The people need a new national conservative party," said Andres Jogiste, a former Pro Patria Union member who is now on the board of the new party, the National Conservative Party/Farmers' Assembly. "Pro Patria Union isn't a national conservative party anymore, even though they say they are."

Like Pro Patria Union, the National Conservative Party/Far-mers' Assembly wants to increase the country's birthrate, encourage family values and preserve the Estonian language. The main difference between the two is that the new party wants to change the framework of the electoral system, said Mart Helme, chairman of the National Conservative Party/ Farmers' Assembly and former Estonian diplomat to Moscow.

The National Conservative Party/ Farmers' Assembly wants citizens rather than parliament members to vote for the president. And it supports a process where citizens can vote to remove parliament members during terms if they are not satisfying voters, Helme said.

The party also would like citizens, rather than a panel, to select police chiefs and judges.

"Right now all judges are nominated for life and this is a source of corruption," Helme said.

Andres Herkel, a deputy chairman of Pro Patria Union, which was formed in 1995, told the Baltic News Service that the ideas of the new party were acceptable, but he doubted the establishment of a majority presidential election.

He also said the new party could damage the interests of all conservative Estonians.

"If people of relatively similar views are splintered between different parties, then also the votes given to them will be splintered and eventually their representation in elected bodies will suffer," he said.

But Helme and Jogiste said that the new party would probably attract many voters and even members from Pro Patria Union by the March national elections. The new party now has 1,700 members.

Jogiste said that many people have become disenchanted with Pro Patria Union.

"Pro Patria Union always says one thing and does another," Jogiste said. "Our party is similar, but we have good people and they don't. We will take Pro Patria's place."

Herkel declined to speculate on this possibility.

"I do not want to censure or forecast the capacity of those people to win through politics," he told the Baltic News Service.

But the party also sees a capacity for attracting members outside Pro Patria Union. One out of three Estonians is not loyal to a political party, so there is room for another group on the political landscape, Helme said.

"There really is a need for a new party in Estonia," Helme said. "We have had lots of changes in the last 10 years and those changes aren't over yet. This 30 percent who are not loyal to a party also need to be represented."

The Center Party, part of the current ruling coalition with the Reform Party, said the formation of this new party does not mean that the right wing is gaining strength in Estonia.

"It may take some potential votes away from the Pro Patria Union," said Toomas Alatalu, a spokesman for the Center Party. "But this party was formed too late to be competitive with our side in the March national elections."

The new party will not participate in the October local elections because it wants to concentrate on developing its agenda and getting out its message, not on getting votes, Helme said.

But the party has already published an extensive agenda. To combat the falling birthrate, the party would like the government to provide special loans for young couples, depending on how many children they have. And the party supports a higher tax for childless couples. In 1988 there were 25,000 babies born in Estonia. Last year there were 12,000.

"If there are so many people who think their career is more important than their family they should have to pay for those who want to have children," he said.

The party's founders have been critical of Estonia's accession process with the European Union. They said the process has gone too quickly and Estonia should re-open some of its closed chapters and try to work out better arrangements.

"We are not against the EU," Helme said. "We just want to make sure that the EU treats Estonia as an equal partner."

The National Conservative Party/ Farmers' Assembly is the only Estonian political party formed this year. The country's newest political party, the liberal Res Publica, was formed last December and now has more than 2,500 registered members.