Even though 2017 in Estonian politics was largely uneventful–there were no major political disruptions or surprises–the year was exceptional and with potentially far-reaching implications. While the Council of the European Union presidency that Estonia held in the second half of the year removed ‘political steam’to some extent, it was already evident that parties, especially after the local elections in October 2017, were preparing for the next parliamentary elections in 2019. The year 2017 was also the first full year of government without the Reform Party (RE) since 1999 and the first without it as the party of the prime minister since 2005. Never since the restoration of independence in 1992 had Estonia had a government, currently the coalition of Centre Party (KE), Social Democrat Party (SDE) and Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL), that was economically centre-left leaning. Perhaps because of both that and the novelty as well as necessity of this coalition combination, some of its behaviour drew much criticism. The coalition parties, especially the latter two, lost a considerable amount of support over the year as the government had a tough time justifying some of its tax policies and the RE was unleashing its potential as a fiercely critical and belligerent opposition party, but with internal divisions and tensions of its own.