If anything about Estonia is known internationally, it is probably the country’s e-voting system, which allows citizens to participate in elections online using a smart card reader. It is also known for establishing the system of e-residency, which provides foreign entrepreneurs with a digital identity to register an EU-based company.

With such technical innovations, this land of 1.3 million people has portrayed itself as the most progressive and liberal among the post-Soviet countries. But at this month’s parliamentary elections, a significant share of Estonia’s citizens logged on to vote for the most chauvinist party running — the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond, EKRE).

Indeed, when the results came in on March 3, EKRE was the symbolic “winner,” securing a rise unparalleled in scale anywhere in Europe. Nearly tripling its representation, the far-right party received 18 percent of the vote. Its advance contrasted with the flatlining scores for the other parties eligible for the new parliament — The Reform Party, The Center Party, and Pro Patria — all of whose results remained within 2 percent of their scores in the 2015 contest.