“The dominance of the Center Party and the Reform Party has been the biggest obstacle to Estonia’s development and a working political culture for years,” Herkel said in a comment on the party popularity ratings released on Saturday. “We see that it is continuing after the change of government as well, where the Center Party is continuing in the shoes of the Reform Party in numerous matters, and calmly allows the same bureaucracy to run things.”

Herkel’s party came in at just 7 percent approval in the ratings, only ahead of conservative coalition partner IRL.

In the coming local elections later this year, the Free Party will back independent lists and local alliances. In order to put an end to the domination of the two largest parties, a broader range of people with independent views needed to be brought in, Herkel said.

According to a poll carried out by Turu-Uuringute AS for ERR, in January the Center Party led the rankings with 31 percent support, followed by the Reform Party with 25 percent, the Social Democrats with 10 percent, the Estonian Conservative People’s Party (EKRE) with 9 percent, the Free Party with 7 percent, and the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL) with 6 percent.