Estonia’s centre-left coalition is fighting for survival at the country’s general election, in a battle against traditional liberal rivals and a surging far-right party buoyed by a backlash from rural voters. Bread-and-butter issues such as taxation and public spending dominated the campaign, along with tensions over Russian-language education for Estonia’s sizeable Russian minority and the rural-urban divide. Nearly half of the 880,690 eligible voters had cast their ballots by midday on Sunday, including 40% who used e-voting in advance polling. A poll collating e-voters and those intent on using paper ballots on Sunday suggests a tight race. The Centre party of the prime minister, Juri Ratas,, scored 24.5% support, narrowly trailing the liberal Reform party led by the former MEP Kaja Kallas with 26.6%, according to pollster Kantar Emor. The far-right Estonian Conservative People’s party, which ran an anti-immigration campaign and promised tax cuts, stands to more than double its support to 17.3% but could struggle to find coalition partners. With five to six parties expected to enter the 101-seat parliament, the splintered outcome will make for tricky coalition building. Centre and Reform have alternated in government and even governed together over the nearly three decades since Estonia broke free from the crumbling Soviet Union. Both strongly support Estonia’s EU and Nato membership and have favoured austerity to keep spending in check, giving the country the eurozone’s lowest debt-to-GDP ratio. Centre has promised to raise pensions by 8.4% and replace Estonia’s 20% flat income tax and 21% corporate tax with a progressive system to boost state revenue. Reform wants to raise the tax-free monthly minimum exemption and lower unemployment insurance premiums instead to aid job creation. Unemployment hovers at just under 5%, and economic growth is expected to slow to 2.7% this year, from 3.9% in 2018. Alexander, a Russian-speaking factory worker who did not give his full name, wants pension and salary hikes. “It’s impossible to survive with the minimum wage,” he said, referring to Estonia’s €540 (£465) monthly minimum. For Lauri, an advertising specialist who also declined to reveal his family name or voting intention, the isolationist and conservative social and foreign policy proposed by parties such as the EKRE is cause for concern. “There’s a trend in western Europe right now, if we look at the Netherlands, at England, maybe even France. I don’t support such populism myself,” he said. Staunchly Eurosceptic, EKRE called for a referendum on Estonia’s EU membership, although the move would be doomed to fail in the overwhelmingly pro-EU country. The party’s deep suspicion of Moscow translates into strong support for Nato membership and the multinational battalion the alliance installed in Estonia in 2017 to deter Russian aggression. Tõnis Saarts, a Tallinn University political scientist, describes the EKRE’s position on liberal democracy, including civic and human rights, rule of law and the separation of powers, as very ambiguous and draws comparisons to similar parties that have gained support across Europe in recent years. The party’s surging popularity is largely rooted in the misgivings of rural Estonians who feel left behind after years of austerity under Centre and Reform. “These people see few economic prospects and feel the mainstream parties don’t care much about their problems,” Saarts said. The Centre party has long been favoured by the Russian minority, who make up around a quarter of Estonia’s population of 1.3 million. To avoid losing voters suspicious of Russia, Ratas insists that a 2004 cooperation deal with Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party is “frozen”, but he has refused to abandon it for fear of losing the Russian vote. The minority is counting on Centre to save the existing education system that is comprised of Estonian and Russian-language schools set up in Soviet times, while Reform and EKRE want to scrap Russian-language teaching. Polling stations close at 1800 GMT on Sunday. No exit polls will be issued, but initial official results are due by midnight. AFP.