November party rankings: Center's lead over Reform narrows to 1%
The Estonian Center Party's lead over the Reform Party in popularity rankings has narrowed to just one percent, it appears from a survey ordered by BNS and conducted by Kantar Emor at the end of November.
The Center Party was backed by 24 percent and the Reform Party by 23 percent of respondents in the November survey, while the Social Democratic Party (SDE) ranked third in popularity with the support of 19 percent of thse surveyed. Compared to the previou survey, support for the Center Party has decreased by one percent while Refom Party figures have picked up, in turn, by one percent.
The Center Party's ratings rose among ethnic Estonians and declind among other ethnic groups, said Aivar Voog, head of surveys at Kantar Emor.
The popularity of the SDE, however, increased in support by two percent since Oct. 17.
The Free Party suffered the heaviest fall in popularity, with support for the relatively young party declining from 15 percent in October to just 11 percent in November. At the same time, the popularity of the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) remained steady at 10 percent, while the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL) saw its rating rise from eight to nine percent.
Of the parties not represented in the Riigikogu, support for the Greens of Estonia remained unchanged at three percent, and both the Independence Party as well as the People's Unity Party were each preferred by one percent of those surveyed.
The combined support of the new ruling coalition, consisting of the Center Party, SDE and IRL, stood at 51 percent in November, up four percent from October figures.
"No preference" responses made up 15 percent of all survey responses. The answers of those who listed "no preference" in terms of party preference were eliminated from the outcome in order to make the results as comparable as possible to the outcome of a hypothetical election held during the survey period.
Between Nov. 25 and Dec. 1, Kantar Emor interviewed 931 voting-age citizens ages 18-74 either in their homes or via the internet for their November survey.
Editor: Editor: Aili Vahtla
Source: BNS