Appearing on ETV politics head-to-head show "Esimene stuudio" Tuesday night, Lavly Perling, a former prosecutor general, said that trends point towards a bright future for her party, Parempoolsed, which was only registered in early October.

The party contains plenty of experts, who entered politics with a sense of idealism and a desire to give something back to Estonia, she said.

"Estonia needs Parempoolsed, since it is the only political party that talks seriously about economic issues, and which dares to say that 'the emperor has no clothes'," Perling said.

"In listening to people and looking at whom the support, I can see that, bearing in mind trends, the future is looking bright for Parempoolsed," Perling, who had just been canvassing potential voters in Tartu, went on.

As to the sometimes controversial distribution of "protection money" via the Riigikogu, Perling called the practice a type of corruption, particularly coming up to election time. "Votes get bought and an election campaign is conducted using public money. A party label is attached to the money. In essence, €40,000 per MP is distributed at will," Perling went on.

Local government should get more say in local projects, she added.

Perling also criticized the current energy support measures, which she said are too general as they apply to more well-off households who don't require the money, in equal measure to those who are struggling.

In broader terms, Perling said that in practice her party is the only right-of-center party, on economic matters, available to voters in Estonia – while the Reform Party may espouse free market values, Perling said, it does not put these into practice.

The opposition Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) are populists who talk, but have not achieved anything significant, while Parempoolsed and Eesti 200 are completely different parties, Perling said.

As for the party's low rating – 0.8 percent according to the most recent Norstat poll, where a minimum of 5 percent is needed in any given constituency in order to win seats, under Estonia's modified d'Hondt system of proportional representation, Perling said these reflected the past, more than the future.

The party would win seats at the general election in March, she added.

Lavly Perling was talking to Andres Kuusk, "Esimene stuudio" host.

ERR News recently conducted an interview with Lavly Perling, which will be published within the next few days.

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