Vähi cabinets After the
1995 parliamentary election, the electoral alliance made up of the
Coalition Party and
Country Union (KMÜ) and the
Centre Party formed
a government coalition. The government led by
Tiit Vähi remained in office for only seven months, as KMÜ decided to end cooperation with the Centre Party due to the tape scandal in which the leader of the Centre Party
Edgar Savisaar was accused of secretly recording political consultations between
Prime Minister Tiit Vähi and the chairman of the
Reform Party,
Siim Kallas.Tiit Vähi and the KMÜ
formed a new government with the Reform Party. However, Reform Party had risen in support in the meanwhile to become the most popular party in Estonia, causing tension in the government. Relations between the coalition partners became particularly sharp during the
1996 municipal elections. After the local elections, the Coalition Party signed a cooperation agreement in Tallinn with the Centre Party, leaving the Reform Party, which came first in the elections, as the main opposition in Tallinn. As a result of that, the Reform Party decided to leave the government, forcing Tiit Vähi had to continue with a minority government. In order to expand the government's support area, Vähi appointed several independent technocrats as ministers, the most important of which was the appointment of future president
Toomas Hendrik Ilves as
Minister of Foreign Affairs. During the apartment scandal, in order to divert attention from the scandal, Vähi disclosed that the Bank of Northern Estonia (PEP) had lent 10 million dollars to the Swiss company Paradiso SAL in 1993. However, after the first interest payment, it turned out that such a company didn't exist, and the company's representatives had disappeared along with the money. Since the 10 million dollars had been lent to PEP by the
Bank of Estonia, which was headed by Siim Kallas at the time, Vähi hinted that Kallas himself had stolen these millions. Criminal proceedings were started, as a result of which Siim Kallas was charged with both abuse of office and preparation for large-scale looting of state property. However, just before the 1999 election, Kallas was acquitted of all charges.
Mart Siimann's cabinet KMÜ nominated
Mart Siimann, the deputy chairman of the Coalition Party, as the new prime minister candidate. Initially, Siimann tried to form a majority government with the Reform Party and Centre Party, but was unsuccessful. Therefore,
the new government only ended up including KMÜ. The government was supported by the Centre Party in the parliament. Siim Kallas, chairman of the Reform Party, wanted the leader of the party with the most votes to become prime minister. Other political parties were initially against it due the support of the Reform Party being much higher than that of the other signatories to the agreement and Kallas' reputation being tarnished by the 10 million dollar scandal. However, eventually the parties settled on the chairman of the party with the most votes becoming the prime minister. The created coalition was nicknamed the
Triple Alliance. == Electoral system ==