Estonians vote Sunday in a general election with the centre-left coalition duelling its traditional liberal rivals and a surging far-right party buoyed by a backlash from mostly rural voters in the Baltic eurozone state.
The lacklustre campaign has focused on bread and butter issues like taxation and public spending, as well as tensions over Russian language education for Estonia's sizeable Russian minority and the rural-urban divide.
Nearly 40% of the 880,690 eligible voters have used e-voting in advanced polling, with officials confident the online system can withstand any attempted meddling.
A poll collating e-voters and those intent on using paper ballots on Sunday suggests a tight race.
Prime Minister Juri Ratas's centrist Centre party scored 24.5% support, narrowly trailing the liberal Reform party led by former MEP Kaja Kallas with 26.6%, according to pollster Kantar Emor.
Promising to slash income and excise taxes and pushing anti-immigration rhetoric, the far-right EKRE stands to more than double its support to 17.3%, but could struggle to find coalition partners.
With 5-6 parties expected to enter the 101-seat parliament, the splintered outcome will make for tricky coalition building.
- Tax breaks, wage hikes -
Traditional rivals, Centre and Reform have alternated in government and even governed together over the nearly three decades since Estonia broke free from the crumbling Soviet Union.
Both strongly support Estonai's EU and NATO membership and have favoured austerity to keep spending in check, giving the country the eurozone's lowest debt-to-GDP ratio.
Centre has vowed to hike pensions by 8.4% and to replace Estonia's 20% flat income tax and 21% corporate tax with a progressive system to boost state revenue.
Nixing a progressive tax, business-friendly Reform instead wants to raise the tax-free monthly minimum and lower unemployment insurance premiums to aid job creation.
Joblessness hovers at just under five percent while economic growth is expected to slow to 2.7% this year, from the 3.9% in 2018.
Calling existing taxes "difficult to cope with", Marilyn, a small business owner from Tallinn who declined to give her surname, told AFP that Reform's proposed tax breaks get her vote.
Alexander, a Russian-speaking factory worker, wants pension and salary hikes.
"It's impossible to survive with the minimum wage," he told AFP in Tallinn, referring to Estonia's €540 monthly minimum.
Estxit
While it won just seven seats in the 2015 election, the EKRE is set to capture a close third spot behind established parties.
Staunchly eurosceptic, it called for an "Estxit" referendum on Estonia's EU membership, although the move would fail in the overwhelmingly pro-EU country.
The party's deep suspicion towards Moscow means it strongly supports NATO membership and the multinational battalion the alliance installed in Estonia in 2017 as a tripwire against possible Russian adventurism.
Tonis Saarts, a Tallinn University political scientist, draws comparisons to the rise of far-right parties across Europe that oppose immigration and multiculturalism while offering generous social spending.
He describes the EKRE's position on liberal democracy, including civic and human rights, rule of law and the separation of powers as "very ambiguous".
The party's surging popularity is largely rooted in the misgivings of rural Estonians who feel left behind after years of austerity under Centre and Reform.
"These people see few economic prospects and feel the mainstream parties don't care much about their problems," Saarts told AFP.
Russian minority
The Centre party has long been favoured by the Russian minority, comprising around a quarter of the Baltic state's population of 1.3 million.
The party signed a memorandum of understanding with Russian President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party in 2004.
To avoid losing voters suspicious of Soviet-era master Russia, Ratas insists the deal is "frozen" but also wary of losing the Russian vote, he has refused to rip it up.
The minority is counting on Centre to save the existing education system comprising Estonian and Russian-language schools set up in Soviet times, while Reform and EKRE want to scrap Russian-language teaching.
Polling stations open from 0700 to 1800 GMT on Sunday. No exit polls will be issued, with initial official results due by midnight.
Pro-EU liberal, far-right firebrand take on Estonia PM
The daughter of a former European Commissioner and a far-right firebrand face off against centrist Prime Minister Juri Ratas in Sunday's general election in Estonia.
Here are the top contenders in the race:
Juri Ratas
Ratas became one of the world's youngest leaders when he took over as Estonia's prime minister in late 2016 at the age of 38.
With a background in law and economics, Ratas cut his political teeth as the mayor of the capital Tallinn between 2005 and 2007, when he launched the European Green Capital project focused on fostering eco-friendly urban living.
It is now an annual award that recognises one European city each year working to improve its environmental record.
In 2007, the married father of four won a parliamentary seat on the centrist Centre party ticket and was elected its deputy speaker.
In late 2016, Ratas took over as Centre party leader from Edgar Savisaar, whose perceived ties to Russia had scared off potential coalition partners amid heightened tensions with Russia.
The move paved the way to Centre leading a three-party coalition government that took office in November 2016.
Kaja Kallas
Kaja Kallas was elected leader of the opposition liberal Reform party in April 2018 after having become an MP in 2011 and an MEP in 2014.
A staunch europhile, she is the daughter of former Estonian prime minister Siim Kallas, who also led the Reform party before serving as European commissioner for transport 2010-14.
Kallas, 41, has been repeatedly included on lists of the most influential MEPs. In 2017, she made Politico's list of the most influential women in Brussels and the VoteWatch think tank's top 10 most influential MEPs in the areas of digital and communications policy.
Kallas is a passionate proponent of innovation who argues that regulations must not hinder the digital technological revolution.
Focused on the rights of small and medium-sized enterprises, Kallas believes that borders in the digital world prevent innovative companies from emerging.
Mart Helme
Born in 1949, the leader of the far-right EKRE is significantly older than his two main rivals.
Helme's father was a veteran of the Estonian Legion, a military unit comprised of forcibly drafted and volunteer Estonian soldiers that served as part of Nazi German SS forces in World War II.
A historian, Helme became a diplomat in 1994 after Estonia broke free from the crumbling Soviet Union, and served as Estonia's ambassador to Russia for several years.
He entered politics in the early 2000s before eventually taking over the leadership of the far-right Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE).
His son Martin Helme is currently the party's deputy chairman and leads it in parliament.
The eurosceptic EKRE stands to win around 20 percent of the vote in Sunday's election, according to pre-vote polls.
The party opposes same-sex marriage, EU refugee relocation efforts and wants to cut the public funding of abortions.
It has also raised the idea of an "Estxit" referendum on EU membership although it says it does not support leaving bloc, which remains very popular among Estonians. The party is deeply suspicious of Russia and favours continued NATO membership.
Helme himself has publicly expressed xenophobic, sexist and homophobic views, and the members of his party have included people convicted of violent crimes and Nazi sympathisers.