September party ratings: Free Party falls below election threshold
Two notable changes have taken place in party ratings in Estonia since last month — the Free Party has fallen below the five percent election threshold, while support for the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL) has climbed firmly above it.
According to a poll commissioned by ERR and conducted by Turu-uuringute AS in September, just four percent of eligible voters would vote for the Free Party in Riigikogu elections — down from six percent one month and eight percent two months ago.
Following a months-long dip, support for IRL grew to eight percent in September, putting the party solidly above the election threshold and reaching April levels of support. Over the summer, IRL's rating remained below eight percent, dipping to just five percent last month.
The Center Party remains the most popular party in Estonia, earning the support of 27 pecent of survey respondents in September — a two-percent drop compared to the previous month.
Support for the Reform Party, on the other hand, grew by one percent to 25 percent in September. Reform remains the second most popular party in Estonia.
The Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) has usurped the Social Democratic Party (SDE) as the third most popular party in Estonia, earning the support of 14 percent of survey respondents. Last month, the two parties tied for third with ratings of 12 percent, but SDE's rating remained unchanged in September.
Meanwhile, support for the Estonian Greens, a non-parliamentary party whose rating had grown close to the five-percent election threshold in recent months, decreased to two percent in September.
Comparing the total support of the government coalition and opposition parties, the coalition, which consists of the Center Party, SDE and IRL, earned the support of 47 percent of respondents, while 43 percent of respondents supported the opposition.
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In a survey commissioned by ERR, Turu-uuringute AS polled 1,009 citizens of voting age across Estonia in their homes from Sept. 5-18. The results of the survey reflect the responses of those who indicated party preference, making them as comparable as possible to the results of Riigikogu elections. 38 percent of respondents did not indicate party preference.
With a sample size of 1,000 respondents, the margin of error does not exceed ±3.10 percent.
Editor: Aili Vahtla