Arena party
The Arengu party (literally "Development Party" or "Progress Party") was a party in Estonia from 1996 to 2001 .
History and program
The Arena Party (AP) was founded on May 25, 1996. The party was ideologically oriented towards the liberal center.
The Arena Party was a split-off center-left oriented Keskerakond ("Center Party"). The split was driven by the leading figure of the party, the Estonian ethnologist and politician Andra Veidemann (* 1955). Veidemann was a co-founder of the Center Party in 1991 and has been a member of the Estonian Parliament ( Riigikogu ) since 1992 . After the party chairman and interior minister Edgar Savisaar had to resign in October 1995 because of a bugging scandal, Veidemann took over the party chairmanship from November 1995 to March 1996. But then she fell out with Savisaar, who remained the strong man of the Center Party. In 1996 Veidemann left the Center Party and founded the Arena Party with like-minded people .
From May 1996 to February 1999 Veidemann was chairman of the arengu party . From December 1996 to March 1999 she was also Minister without Portfolio in the Cabinets of Prime Ministers Tiit Vähi ( Cabinet Vähi III ) and Mart Siimann ( Cabinet Siimann I ). In 1995/95 she was initially responsible for European affairs. From 1997 to 1999 she was Minister of Population. It was responsible for all questions of the population, especially the state policy towards the Russian-speaking minority .
At the beginning of 1999, immediately before the upcoming parliamentary elections , Veidemann surprisingly switched to Eesti Maarahva Erakond ("Party of the Estonian Rural People") because her party had little chance of a new parliamentary mandate.
On March 7, 1999, the Arena Party took part in a parliamentary election for the only time . It achieved a disastrous result with 0.38 percent of the vote.
In April 2001 the party named itself Erakond Uus Eesti ("New Estonia Party"). In January 2003 they united with the Agaric Eestimaa Rahvaliit ("Estonian People's Union").
Party leader
- May 25, 1996 - February 9, 1999: Andra Veidemann
- February 9, 1999 - January 3, 2001: Hardo Aasmäe
- January 3, 2001 - April 28, 2011: Tiina Mitt
- April 28, 2001 - January 29, 2003: Ülo Nugis
Web links
- History of the party (erakonnad.info)
Individual evidence
- ↑ ´ Eesti Erakondade Ajalugu ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
