Party ratings: Eesti 200 overtaken by Center
Eesti 200 has lost third place in party ratings to the Center Party, according to recent research.
The Reform Party remains most-supported, though the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) is closing the gap, the survey, conducted by Turu-uuringute AS, reports.
Turu-uuringute is one of three major polling companies operating in Estonia, the others being Norstat and Kantar Emor, all of which employ different methodologies in drawing up their surveys.
Turu-uuringute's May survey found Reform, the prime minister's party, was still most popular, at 23 percent, though EKRE has closed the gap on them and is now on 20 percent.
A month ago, the respective levels were 24 percent and 19 percent.
The largest change on month concerned positions three and four, which saw a reversal of fortunes between April (Eesti 200 on 17 percent and firmly ahead of Center on 13 percent) and this month – when Center polled at 16 percent, Eesti 200 at 14 percent, according to Turu-uuringute.
Among the remainder, the Social Democrats (SDE), in office with Reform and Eesti 200, saw their support remain relatively unchanged at 10 percent, while Isamaa, in opposition, also saw no big change, at 8 percent.
Parempoolsed's support dropped from 4 percent to 3 percent, between April and May, while the Estonian Greens' rose, from 1 percent to 3 percent, over the same period.
Neither of these parties is currently represented at the Riigikogu, while another party which is not, the United Left Party (EÜVP), polled at 1 percent, per Turu-uuringute, unchanged on the previous month.
Turu-uuringute's latest survey covers the period May 4-15, and polled 879 Estonian citizens of 18 and over. The respondents were quizzed over the phone or online, split 50:50.
Of reasons for the changes in support, the tail end of the latest Turu-uuringute survey coincided with an opposition filibuster at the Riigikogu, but the period also began not long after new tax hikes and cuts to family benefits were announced by the coalition, and effectively the end of the election honeymoon period for those parties.
Center's leader, Jüri Ratas, had been involved in a war of words with Eesti 200's Lauri Hussar just before the March 5 election, in the Vikerraadio studio (pictured). Hussar became Riigikogu speaker, a position which Ratas, now deputy speaker, had previously occupied.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte