Estonian premier aims for coalition talks to create new govt
Roivas met the country's head of state before discussions with other party leaders.
TALLINN, Estonia: (AP) - Estonia s prime minister was preparing to form a new government Monday, a day after his ruling Reform Party won parliamentary elections.
Taavi Roivas center-right group, which includes the Social Democrats, lost seven seats in the vote and now has 45 lawmakers in the 101-seat Parliament, prompting negotiations with smaller parties to form a majority coalition.
Roivas met the country s head of state before discussions with other party leaders.
At their meeting, President Toomas Hendrik Ilves suggested forming a broad coalition, saying the small nation of 1.3 million people "needs a responsible and capable government ... (to) maintain Estonia s security, governance and local government reforms."
The election was dominated by economic issues and security concerns over Russia s actions in Ukraine, with many fearing that Moscow would try to increase its influence in the former Soviet republic, which has a large ethnic Russian minority.
The main opposition Center Party gained one seat for a total of 27 lawmakers, with its leader, Tallinn Mayor Edgar Savisaar, winning 25,000 votes an all-time record in Estonian elections since it regained independence in 1991.
Roivas has ruled out working with Savisaar, who is deemed by many as being too pro-Moscow in the Baltic country, which was occupied by the Soviet Union for nearly five decades.
Two smaller parties, a nationalist and conservative party, made gains in the election, breaking a 5-percent threshold to win seats in parliament for the first time, with analysts predicting that at least one of them is likely to be represented in a new coalition.
The liberal, pro-market Reform Party has held the prime minister s post since 2005.
