STORY: In the parliamentary elections in Estonia, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas’ pro-European Reform Party has become the strongest force. After counting 98 percent of the vote, Kallas’ Liberal faction received 31.5 percent of the vote. Kallas said her party is in a strong position after the election to form a coalition government that will continue to pressure Russia. “We … need to invest in our security, our aggressive neighbor hasn’t gone away and won’t go away, so we have to work with that,” she told reporters at a hotel in central Tallinn where party supporters had gathered for the evening. Should Kallas succeed in forming a coalition, it would consolidate the pro-European stance of the Baltic country and Russia-neighbor. The right-wing extremist EKRE party came second with 16.1 percent. The party’s strong performance reflects concerns among some voters about the rising cost of living in the country of 1.3 million in the wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine. As in the last election, turnout was 63.7 percent.