ABSTRACT
While earlier research demonstrated that a transnational strategy may prove to be beneficial for the more marginal parties, there is a much vaguer understanding of how political parties engage with their transnational supporters in democratic polities. This chapter focuses on the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE), which is running primarily on an anti-gay, anti-immigrant nationalist platform, and has a branch organisation in Finland, the main contemporary migration destination for Estonians. The chapter outlines the findings of an exploratory study, mainly utilising in-depth interviews with EKRE functionaries and a range of secondary sources. Firstly, it aims to analyse the party’s general transnationalisation strategy, and how does it rationalise its nationalist, anti-immigrant message in the transnational context with voters who are de facto immigrants. Secondly, the organisational opportunities and challenges of having a branch in another country are analysed. And thirdly, the chapter addresses campaigning in a transnational setting where several conventional campaign attributes cannot be applied, and transnational migrants tend to be politically rather passive.
