The Estonian turnout for the European Parliament elections 2019 was 37.6%, staying roughly the same as in the previous elections in 2014. Being one of the smallest Member States of the EU, Estonia sends 6 MEPs to Brussel; this will increase to 7 when the UK leaves the EU.

The outcome of the European Parliament elections as a whole was not unexpected in Estonia. The liberal Reform Party won the elections and received two seats in the European Parliament, imitating the results of the national general elections in March 2019. Furthermore, the European elections were a great success for the Social Democratic Party as they gained enough votes to secure themselves an additional seat. As the Social Democrats did well in the elections, Estonia will initially send only four parties to Brussels instead of the five in the previous term. However, when the UK leaves the EU, the conservative party Isanmaa will gain one more seat in the European Parliament.

The election results do not add a lot to the internal power relations in the European Parliament due to Estonia’s small delegation of MEPs, but might have been a determining factor for the country’s next European Commissioner. One of the current Vice-President of the Commission and the Commissioner for the Digital Single Market, Andrus Ansip, secured a seat in the European Parliament with his Reform Party which will sit with ALDE. Whilst Ansip has ruled himself out as he thinks that Estonia should nominate a female candidate to contribute to addressing gender representation in the College of Commissioners, his election makes a second term even more unlikely.