MP: SDE and Isamaa will become the main parties in Estonian politics
Estonia's future political landscape will evolve so that Isamaa and the Social Democratic Party will become the biggest forces, Riigikogu member Raimond Kaljulaid (SDE) believes.
"Everything changes in life, maybe the parties you are asking about [EKRE and Center] are the past and maybe the Social Democrats /.../ are the future," the MP said on the "Otse uudistemajast" web broadcast on Wednesday.
If there is a budget deficit in Estonia, then at the same time, there is a surplus of conservative parties in the country, he said.
"In my opinion, almost all Estonian political parties are quite conservative in their views. I'm not very sure that this is a niche that can grow significantly. I tend to see the political landscape evolving in a way where Estonia has a conservative and right-wing Isamaa on one side, and, as a counterbalance, the Social Democratic Party, which is more liberal and left-leaning, on the other," Kaljulaid said.
Kaljulaid said Isamaa is the only conservative party that has been able to strongly establish itself in politics.
"In my opinion, this is primarily because it actually talks about these things quite forcefully and well, because Urmas Reinsalu has, in fact, since becoming chairman, been very strong on the subject of economic competitiveness and growth. It's not just populist opposition to the government," he added.
This is the reason why Isamaa has become more popular, while others have seen a fall in support, Kaljulaid added.
Over the past 18 months, Reform slipped from winning a landslide election victory to second, or sometimes third, most popular party. Isamaa has risen to the top, and SDE is following behind. At the 2023 election, both parties won less than 10 percent of the vote share.
Eesti 200 has dropped from 13.1 percent to less than 5 percent. EKRE and Center have split.
The latest poll by Norstat shows Isamaa is the most popular party, with Reform (19.4 percent) in second place and SDE (15.4 percent) in third.
The top three are followed by the EKRE (13.2 percent) and Center (11.9 percent). Eesti 200 is below the 5 percent Riigikogu threshold with 3.5 percent.
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Editor: Helen Wright
Source: Mari Peegel, interview by Aleksander Kryukov