MEP: Voters may switch from Reform to EKRE
The Reform-Eesti 200-SDE's tax policies will drive floating voters over to the opposition Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE), that party's sole MEP, Jaak Madison, says.
Madison says there is a distinct possibility that, in addition to other parts of society, more from the business community will start supporting his party's platform.
Madison told ETV news show "Aktuaalne kaamera" (AK) Friday that: "I think there is quite a lot in this segment who could come over from the Reform Party to us, and who see that the Reform Party's economic policy has failed. But of course voters from the Center Party, and especially Eesti 200 voters, too."
The clear dominance of the Reform Party in the party support ratings ended in May, when their support reached parity with EKRE's, according to some market research firms.
Recent party support ratings put Reform and EKRE even-stevens at 23 percent, followed by the Center Party.
Eesti 200 fell to fourth place with the biggest drop in support, according to Kantar Emor at least, from 17 percent to 13 percent, April to May, while SDE also saw a two-percentage-point fall in support over the same period, to 10 percent.
Isamaa has, however, seen a slight rise in support over that time frame.
Kantar Emor research expert Aivar Voog told AK that the decline in support for the Reform Party began in April with the publication of the coalition agreement, which included tax increases not mentioned prior to the election.
Eesti 200 Riigikogu whip Marek Reinaas said that this also harmed his party's rating, adding that there is plenty of time to go until the next election (just over a year in fact, to the European Parliament-ed.).
Aivar Voog argued that the rise in support for EKRE likely resulted from its higher profile in the filibuster of this week and the week before, while disenchantment with politics in general may be behind a rise in the number of respondents in the "don't know" category in Kantar Emor polls.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Merili Nael