Eesti Kristlik Rahvapartei (Estonian Christian Peoples Party) has changed its name. The new name is Eesti Kristlikud Demokraadid (EKD) (Estonian Christian Democrats).

After working on the basic values of the party during several training sessions EKD stated its values and goals. After evaluating the identity of the party we discovered that the image of it among the outsiders was very different from what we believed to be and what we were hoping to reflect.

Our name was one of the problems. For most of the people in Estonia the name “Peoples Party” associated with the socialist (even communist) occupation in the recent years. It sounded like “Peoples Republic of Mongolia” or something like that. It certainly sounded marginal. “Christian Democrats” has mostly acceptable connotations for our nation.

A change of a name is never easy. It took some courage from all of us to do it. It is also costly as we need to change all the visual symbols of the party. Being just a year away from the parliamentary election we came to the conclusion that the time to do it was right. The decision to change the name was made by the congress of the party almost unanimously.

There were some questions about the change among the members of the EKD. The main concern of some members was that many Christian democrats in Europe have lost the “Christianity” and preserved the “democratic” part. They asked us how we could be sure we were not in the same danger. I am sure the secularization is a great danger for any of us. To make sure we all understood these things right we have written in our mission and vision statements and in our program clearly that our policies are based on the Bible and we are definitely following the Word of the Lord in our political decisions.

Now being understood right in Estonia I hope that our image is not turning wrong outside our country.

Peeter Vosu
Vice Chairman
Estonian Christian Democrats
+372 5059935

source: www.ekd.ee