Estonian poll: 66 pct say Kaja Kallas should resign

Kaja Kallas and her husband Arvo Hallik. Photo: Marko Saarm

According to a fresh poll commissioned by the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, 66 percent, or two in three Estonian citizens are of the opinion that Kaja Kallas should step down as prime minister of Estonia.

On the afternoon of Wednesday, Aug. 23, news broke that a logistics company co-owned by Kallas' husband Arvo Hallik continued the haulage of goods to Russia after the outbreak of the full-scale war in Ukraine. In the survey conducted for the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, pollster Norstat asked voting-age citizens of Estonia whether Kaja Kallas should resign as the head of government.

Twenty-nine percent answered «no» or «rather no,» 66 percent «rather yes» or «yes,» and 5 percent couldn't say.

That the premier should resign was said by 99.5 percent of the respondents who showed the Estonian Conservative People's Party (EKRE) as their party preference, 93 percent of the supporters of the Center Party, 85 percent of the supporters of Isamaa and 55 percent of the supporters of the Social Democratic Party. Of voters of Estonia 200, 48 percent said that the prime minister should resign and 47 percent that she shouldn't.

Of voters of the Reform Party, of which Kallas is the chair, 82 percent think she should continue in office and 14 percent think she should resign.

Respondents were asked to answer three more questions related to the controversy involving the prime minister's husband. Eighty percent of respondents think it is not moral for Estonian companies to do business in Russia now, 67 percent do not believe that Kaja Kallas was unaware of her husband's business activities in Russia, and 69 percent think the prime minister should disclose what she gave her husband's company a loan for.

On the last two issues, supporters of the Reform Party stand apart from voters of other parties with 37 percent saying that they believe that Kaja Kallas was unaware of her husband's Russia related business, and 49 percent believing that the prime minister should not disclose what the loan she provided to her husband's business was meant for.

The online survey was carried out by interviewing 1,000 citizens aged 18 and above on Monday and Tuesday.