| Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica Isamaa ja Res Publica Liit |
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|---|---|
| Leader | Mart Laar |
| Founded | 4 June 2006 |
| Headquarters | Wismari 11, Tallinn |
| Ideology | Conservatism[1], Liberal conservatism, Christian democracy[1], National conservatism[2] |
| Political position | Centre-right |
| International affiliation | Centrist Democrat International, International Democrat Union |
| European affiliation | European People's Party |
| European Parliament Group | European People's Party |
| Official colours | Blue |
| Riigikogu |
23 / 101
|
| European Parliament |
1 / 6
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| Website | |
| http://www.irl.ee/ | |
| Politics of Estonia Political parties Elections |
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Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica (Estonian: Isamaa ja Res Publica Liit, IRL) is an Estonian Liberal Conservative political party. It was founded on 4 June 2006 when two conservative parties, Pro Patria Union and Res Publica merged. Up to the 2007 parliamentary elections, the party held 32 seats out of 101 in the Riigikogu (the Estonian parliament) and one of Estonia's six seats in the European Parliament. The party is a member of the European People's Party (EPP). It has about 8,500 members. The merged party consisted of two separate boards and two party leaders, which was replaced by a unified board and leader in May 2007. The party's prime minister candidate was Mart Laar, who became a chairman of the party.
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Prior to the merger, there was an extreme drop in public support for Res Publica after the government led by Juhan Parts was forced to step down, and Pro Patria had also been relatively marginalized after the fall of their own governing coalition. There was also concern among conservatives about splitting the vote between two parties with largely similar ideologies and being unable to oppose the much more cohesive left wing electorate, which was mostly rallied behind the Centre Party. On 4 April, 2006, representatives from the Pro Patria Union and Res Publica decided to merge the two parties, which took place officially on 4 June, 2006. Although originally the name For Estonia (Eesti Eest) was considered for the newly formed party, it was rejected and the provisional name has been used to date.
On 15 November 2006 the parties were officially joined as Party Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica (Erakond Isamaa ja Res Publica Liit).
The results of the 2007 parliamentary elections were not good for the party. The united party received 98,209 votes (17.9% of the total), a drop of 14.0%. As a result, it won 19 seats in the Riigikogu, a loss of 16, but still the third largest block in Parliament.
In the 2011 parliamentary elections the party remained in third largest block but with an increased number of seats (+4), and share of the vote (+2.6%).
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