The Estonian party system has become increasingly stable since democracy was inaugurated, according to electoral volatility scores. But attachments to parties are not based on classical social and economic cleavages. As a result of the lack of programmatic-based parties, personalism has emerged as the most important political driving force to attract voters. Based on 40 elite interviews, half of them with members of Parliament (Riigikogu), a new approach is taken to understand party system institutionalisation: personalistic political leaders are differentiating themselves through policies, which might open the path to cleavage formation.
