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The Center Party and the Reform Party were Estonia's most popular parties in September, while support for the opposition Conservative People's Party (EKRE) and the Free Party is declining, results of a survey commissioned by the public broadcaster ERR and carried out by pollster Turu-uuringute AS show.
If parliamentary elections were held tomorrow, 26 percent of votes would go to the opposition Center Party and 25 percent to the Reform Party, a senior member of the government coalition. In August the parties were supported by respectively 24 percent and 23 percent of respondents. The Reform Party's support of 25 percent is the highest indicator of the year for the party which can be explained by the positive impact of the presidential elections where candidates connected to the party had the biggest number of supporters among the population.
Support for the Social Democratic Party (SDE) was 12 percent in September, which is 3 percentage points less than in August but on the same 12-13-percent level where the party's support has been for most of the year.
EKRE and the Free Party were supported by respectively 10 percent and 9 percent of respondents in September, compared with 13 percent and 10 percent a month before. These support numbers are the lowest for both parties in 2016.
IRL was supported by 7 percent of respondents or 2 percentage points more than in August. The party's support has been 5-7 percent for the whole year.
Of non-parliamentary parties, the Greens were backed by 1 percent of people.
Although the Center Party's support continues to be high, the decline in the support of the other two opposition parties resulted in the difference between the total support of the government coalition and opposition parties becoming minimal. While the coalition parties were supported by 44 percent of respondents in September, support for the opposition parties totaled 45 percent.
Turu-uuringute AS interviewed 1,000 Estonian citizens in their homes between Sept. 6 and 20. The answers of the people who had no preference were not taken into account.