Mart Helme was born on 31 October 1949 in Pärnu. After graduating from high school in Pärnu in 1968, he studied history at the University of Tartu and graduated in 1973. In his youth, Helme played in several bands, including Hübriid.
Political career
Helme joined the Estonian diplomatic service in 1994. In 1995, he was appointed as the Estonian ambassador to Russia by President Lennart Meri. His tenure lasted until 1999. While in Moscow, he took part in the border negotiations with Russia. From 2003 to 2005, Helme was a member of the agrarian-centrist People's Union of Estonia. In 2012, when the party merged with the Estonian Patriotic Movement, Helme became a member of the new Conservative People's Party of Estonia. A year later, he was elected its leader. He has said that "Estonian politicians should honestly admit that our choice is between staying with those who are creating a United States of Europe and joining those who desire a Europe of nation states. The Conservative People's Party doesn't see a place for Estonia in a United States of Europe." In 2015 parliamentary election, Helme was elected to parliament with 6,714 individual votes and in the 2019 parliamentary election he increased his support to 9,170 individual votes. In March 2019 Mart Helme said to the press that he wishes that one day his party would be the sole ruling party of Estonia. After EKRE's receiving of 17.8% of the votes in the 2019 parliamentary election and the subsequent inclusion in the governing coalition, Helme was appointed to Jüri Ratas' second cabinet as Estonia's interior minister. On May 2, 2019, Helme was also named First Deputy Prime Minister.
Media controversy
Mart Helme has made headlines in the media with some of his opinions. In December 2019, Helme said in a radio interview that a “cashier” had become Finland’s prime minister and was now seeking “to liquidate Finland” – a reference to the election of Sanna Marin as prime minister of Finland, who once worked as a cashier as the world’s youngest serving head of government. This prompted an apology from Kersti Kaljulaid, Estonia’s president to Finnish president Sauli Niinistö, who also asked that the apology be conveyed to Marin and the government. On February 27, 2020, Helme stated at a government press conference that the common cold had been renamed as the coronavirus and that in his youth nothing like that existed. He recommended wearing warm socks and mustard patches as well as spreading goose fat on one's chest as treatments for the virus. Helme also said that the virus would pass within a few days to a week just like the common cold.
Personal life
Helme's current wife, Helle-Moonika Helme, is an MP in the Riigikogu for EKRE. Mart Helme has a son, Martin Helme, also a prominent member of EKRE, from a previous marriage. He owns the Suure-Lähtru manor. He has worked as a journalist, publisher and diplomat. He has also been a farmer and a singer.
