Whereas in April, shortly after the March 5 Riigikogu elections, a total of 39 percent of respondents to a survey held by pollsters Turu-uuringute were in support of Kaja Kallas as prime minister, as of early November this had diminished to 17 percent, in the latest Turu-uuringute poll.

Meanwhile opposition Isamaa chair Urmas Reinsalu has become most supported prime ministerial candidate, at 29 percent, according to Turu-uuringute.

In joint third place in the Turu-uuringute poll were the chairs of the other two opposition parties, Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) leader Martin Helme, and Center Party leader, and current Mayor of Tallinn, Mihhail Kõlvart.

Previous Center leader Jüri Ratas had polled at 21 percent back in August, however.

Ratas also polled at 17 percent in August among native Estonian-speaking respondents; for Kõlvart, that figure is just 3 percent, Turu-uuringute says.

Few respondents see the current leaders of either of the two junior coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SDE), and Eesti 200, as their favored prime ministerial candidate choice.

Four percent picked SDE chair and Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets, while the support for outgoing Eesti 200 chair and Riigikogu Speaker Lauri Hussar was at the same level.

Hussar's successor has yet to be elected by the party.

A further 19 percent of respondents could not say who their favored prime minister candidate would be.

Turu-uuringute surveyed 899 Estonian citizens of Riigikogu voting age (ie. 18 or over) during the period October 26 to November 6. 

Rival polling form Norstat released a survey two days before Turu-uuringute's, which revealed similar results in that Urmas Reinsalu, a former foreign minister, was also most supported candidate as prime minister.

Kaja Kallas first became Estonian prime minister in January 2021, heading up a Reform-Center bipartite coalition. After dismissing the Center Party ministers in June 2022, a new stop-gap coalition entered office the following month, comprising Reform, SDE and Isamaa, and was in office through to the March election this year, again with Kallas at the helm. The current Reform-Eesti 200-SDE coalition entered office in April and thus is Kallas' third administration.

Urmas Reinsalu became Isamaa leader in June, Mihhail Kõlvart was elected Center chair in September.

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