Party ratings: Reform's rise in support plateaus
Support ratings for Estonia's major political parties showed no significant change over the past week, according to a recent survey, though the Reform Party's seven-week rise in support seems to have leveled-off.
A total of 45.7 percent of respondents expressed support for the two coalition parties, Reform and Center, with 34.1 percent backing the three opposition parties: The Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE), Isamaa and the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE), according to the poll, conducted by Norstat and commissioned by the Study of Societal Issues (MTÜ Ühiskonnauuringute Instituut).
By individual party, support remains unchanged on the previous week, with Reform in first place (28.6 percent support), EKRE second (22 percent) and the non-parliamentary Eesti 200 in third place with 17.7 percent of support.
Reform's rating was virtually unchanged on last week's figure (29 percent). The party and its leader Kaja Kallas, current prime minister, had seen a revitalization in support from the low experienced in January, thought to be the result of public perceptions of the prime minister's handling of the crisis arising with Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which started on February 24.
The top three are followed by Center in fourth place (17.1 percent), SDE with 7.1 percent and Isamaa on 5 percent.
Isamaa is seeing its lowest support level since May 2021 according to Norstat, and has lost 2.4 percentage points in the ratings over the past six weeks.
The party recently expelled members of a faction called the Parempoolsed.
Five percent is a significant figure in that it represents the minimum vote needed to win any seats in a given constituency, under Estonia's d'Hondt system of proportional representation.
Party support for the Greens stood at 1.7 percent over the past week, Norstat reports. The party currently has no Riigikogu seats.
The latest aggregate results reflect the survey period from March 8 to April 4, and a total of 4,001 citizens of voting age (18 or over) were polled (only Estonian citizens may vote in general elections; all EU citizens may vote in European elections and the largest franchise is reserved for the local elections, in which all residents of Estonia can vote).
The next elections are to the Riigikogu, on March 5 2023.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
