Ratings: Isamaa and EKRE support falls as Reform, Center's rises
Opposition party Isamaa continues to top the party ratings chart even though it has lost support in recent weeks, according to a recent survey.
The coalition Reform Party and opposition Center Party are closing the gap on Isamaa, while the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) has seen its support fall recently too.
The poll, conducted by conservative think tank the Institute for Societal Studies on behalf of Norstat, found that this week 28.1 percent of eligible voters back Isamaa, 18.7 percent support the Reform Party, and 16.9 percent pledged their support for the Center Party.
Isamaa's rating has fallen by 1.4 percentage points over the past week and 3.6 percentage points over the past three weeks.
Conversely, the Reform Party's support has increased by 2.6 percentage points over the past four weeks.
Center's support continues to grow too, having risen by a total of 3.7 percentage points since mid-February.
EKRE rated at 15 percent in the latest Norstat poll, followed by the Social Democrats (SDE), now in opposition, who picked up 10.2 percent of support. The non-parliamentary Parempoolsed party rated at 5.2 percent, while coalition party Eesti 200 was supported by 3.1 percent of respondents.
EKRE's support has dropped by 2.7 percentage points over the last three weeks, and for the first time since November last year, Parempoolsed has passed the 5-percent threshold required to win seats in an electoral district. Eesti 200's rating continues below that level.
The two coalition parties were together backed by 21.8 percent of respondents compared with 71.8 percent for the four opposition parties combined.
Norstat conducts its poll on a weekly basis and aggregates its results over the preceding four weeks, polling a minimum of 4,000 Estonian citizens of voting age.
The latest aggregate results reflect the survey period from March 17 to April 13.
Voters who expressed no party preference are excluded from the results.
Norstat claims a maximum margin of error in direct proportion to the size of a party by support, so for instance, with Isamaa as the most supported, the margin of error stands at +/-1.72 percent, compared with +/-0.66 percent for Eesti 200 as the least supported of the major parties.
The next elections are to the 79 local municipalities, in October this year.
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Editor: Mirjam Mäekivi, Andrew Whyte
