Party ratings: EKRE losing support, Estonia 200 gaining ground

From the left. Head of the Center Party Jüri Ratas, head of the Parempoolsed (Right-wingers) Lavly Perling, head of the Isamaa Helir-Valdor Seeder, head of the Reform Party Kaja Kallas, head of the Estonia 200 Lauri Hussar, head of the Estonian Conservative People's Party (EKRE) Martin Helme and head of the Social Democratic Party (SDE) Lauri Läänemets. Photo: Konstantin Sednev

The top four of Estonian party ratings, based on the results from the past four weeks, consists of the election-winning Reform Party, Estonian Conservative People's Party (EKRE), Center Party and prospective junior coalition partner Estonia 200, with EKRE and Center losing support and Estonia 200 gaining ground, according to a survey commissioned by the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues and carried out by pollster Norstat Eesti.

The latest survey results show that Reform is supported by 29.3 percent, EKRE by 17.9 percent, and the Center Party by 15.7 percent of voting-age citizens. Support for Reform remained stable over the week while that for both EKRE and Center declined by one percentage point.

The top three are followed by Estonia 200 with 14.4 percent, the second prospective junior coalition partner Social Democratic Party (SDE) with 9.5 percent and Isamaa with 8.1 percent. Support for Estonia 200 grew by 1.3 percentage points week over week and that for SDE by 1.4 percentage points.

The results from the past week show that the Reform Party is supported by 29.3 percent of the respondents, EKRE by 17.1 percent and Estonia 200 by 15.5 percent. The top three is followed by the Center Party with 14.2 percent, SDE with 11.9 percent and Isamaa with 7.5 percent.

Researcher at the University of Tartu Martin Molder said that the general levels of relative support show that support for the Reform Party is stabilizing at one percentage point below 30 percent, whereas the ratings of Center and EKRE are in decline. Meanwhile, Estonia 200 has caught up with the latter two at great speed. Over the coming weeks, differences between support for said three parties are expected to narrow further. SDE has likewise improved its footing while no particular trends have been observed in the support for Isamaa.

Molder pointed out a sharp drop in support for the Center Party among ethnic Estonian voters, which the party had previously managed to temporarily boost ahead of the elections. It did not materialize at the ballot box, however, and Center did not manage to mobilize its Russian-speaking voters to the same extent as during the local government elections, either, the researcher said.