Estonia's parliamentary election opens

Estonians went to the polling stations on Sunday to cast their ballots in the country's first parliamentary election since becoming a member of the European Union (EU) in 2004, said reports reaching here from the Estonian capital of Tallinn.

Polling stations opened at 9:00 a.m. (0700 GMT) and is scheduled to close at 8:00 p.m. (1800 GMT).

On Feb. 26-28, a total of 170,000 Estonians, or 19 percent of the 940,000 eligible voters, cast ballots in the advance voting, with more than 30,000 voters casting their ballots electronically via the Internet. Their votes will be added to those cast in traditional paper form on Sunday.

Opinion polls show the left-leaning Center Party of Economy and Communications Minister Edgar Savisaar and Prime Minister Andrus Ansip's center-right Reform Party, the core of the coalition, will have a comfortable majority in the 101-seat single-chamber parliament.

The official result is not expected until around midnight (2200 GMT).

A survey published in the Postimees daily on Saturday showed the two parties would each win 29 to 32 seats in the parliament, while another poll conducted by the Emor polling agency showed that the two parties would each net 26 percent of the vote.

The Baltic country has a political system built on parliamentary democracy. The government is headed by the prime minister, who is chosen by the parliament. The current government is a three-party coalition of the Reform Party, the Center Party and the Estonian People's Union.

Source: Xinhua