SDE, Center top Estonian party ratings in May

Illustration: Allikas: TNS Emor; graafika: Silver Alt

The most popular parties among Estonian voters in May were the Social Democratic Party (SDE) and the Center Party, a poll conducted by Emor for the public broadcasting company ERR indicates.

The two opposition parties would be supported by 26 percent of the voters each if elections were held tomorrow. The parties of the current government coalition, Reform and the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL), were backed by respectively 24 percent and 15 percent of voters in the May poll.

In April, SDE topped the list with 27 percent, followed by Reform at 25, Center at 24 and IRL at 13 percent.

Not included in the above percentages is the "can't say" contingent, which made up 40 percent of those surveyed in both polls.

The secretary general of SDE, Indrek Saar, said in his comments to BNS that SDE has retained its leader's position for almost a year now.

"That's despite increasingly fierce attacks by rivals and attempts to scare people with the Russian card, as well as an attempt by a certain politician to share his own smeared shirt front with Social Democrats. I'm happy to note that selfish untruths like that have been seen through," Saar said.

He added that the share of "don't knows" among the responses was a reason for concern and thinking for all political forces.

Kadri Simson, chair of the Center Party group in parliament, said that judging by the ratings the topics that Center has raised matter for the people and predicted that the upcoming elections will speed up the increase in popular support for the party.

"The forthcoming local elections apparently uphold growth in support for the Center Party," Simson said. "Since town governments and rural municipality governments are closest to the people and a solution to one's concerns is expected from them, those parties will be favored in this context which are socially more caring."

Simson said the Center Party sponsored demonstration against the IRL Economy and Communications Minister Juhan Parts on April 23 showed that the people have not forgotten the rise in the price of electricity and that probably the broken electoral promise to bring down home costs is the reason behind IRL's extremely low rating.

Speaking on behalf of the Reform Party, secretary general Martin Kukk said fluctuations of a few percent in the party ratings have not changed the big picture.

"For the Reform Party continuing the work in the name of increasing standards of living is more important than ratings," he added.

The secretary general of IRL, Tiit Riisalo, said the growth in IRL's rating by two percentage points was positive news, yet no significant change had taken place.

"IRL's rating increased in May and of course this is positive for the party. At the same time, the approval ratings of parties changed by one or two percent, which shows that no remarkable change has taken place," Riisalo told BNS.

Riisalo additionally pointed out that IRL was conducting a nationwide poll to learn about people's specific concerns in the area where they live.

"More than 17,000 people have responded to the survey by now, which shows that feedback to our initiative has been positive," Riisalo said. IRL intends to remain active throughout the summer and to communicate directly with the people as much a possible. "I believe that these steps will further strengthen the party's positions ahead of the local elections," he added.