Social Dems Have Reason to Party in Popularity Poll
Voter support declined for the largest political parties last year, while the underdog Social Democrats gathered momentum and managed to surpass one of the ruling coalition partners, according to a poll by TNS Emor.
Since December 2010, the Reform and Centre parties are both down four percentage points in the poll, while support for the Social Dems, the current President's former party, nearly doubled from 13 to 22 percent.
The ruling Reform Party still holds 32 percent of those polled, and the opposition Centre Party, having survived its chairman's campaign money laundering scandal and an inner power struggle, still has 22 percent of the vote.
However, while coalition partner IRL, also under scrutiny for its members' controversial activities, was the only other party in Parliament to see its support grow - although by only one percentage point to 16 percent - it has now fallen to fourth place in popularity.
Ott Tammik