“We have done well since we restored our independence. That said, during this period, something has been broken for a lot of people around us,” Ratas said. “We have not always been able to help the most defenseless members of society – children, elderly, disabled persons or still others. A second honest glance in the mirror has helped us realize integration has not been a complete success, and people who speak Estonian and those who don’t have often remained strangers.”
Ratas said society has a lot of different values, while they and the people who represent them should not be at odds. “We need to rely on what unites us – the people of Estonia – not emphasize differences,” he found. “Life in Estonia will develop much better based on kind words and sentences than sharp slogans and venomous remarks. We all can and must make efforts in our political activity to assuage the fears of our people and calm society.”
Ratings suggest Ratas has not found love among Center’s voters by forming the government at hand.
Centrist politicians have been troubled by support for the party dwindling among non-Estonian-speakers and residents of the capital since the Riigikogu elections in March and even before that. Support for Center among Russian-speakers that dipped below the 50 percent mark between now and elections has bounced back to a still modest 52 percent. But the downward trend persists among citizens of Tallinn. Opposition leader the Reform Party is by far the most popular force in the capital (33.7 percent), while Center has to settle for a rating of 19.8 percent, down from 23 percent as recently as in March.
The Reform Party is also the most popular political force countrywide on 32 percent, with the rating of Center hovering around 17 percent for the second consecutive month. For the latter, even a deceleration of the process of losing voters could be seen as a positive development.
Other trends in terms of ratings have more or less persisted: Isamaa have managed to find new supporters, as have Estonia 200, while EKRE have lost points, coming down from 18 percent in March to 15 percent in April.