Survey: Reform-Center coalition in Tallinn unpopular even with own voters

While charges have been flying around, and rejected, about collusion in the capital between the Reform Party and the Center Party in recent weeks, according to one recent survey such an alignment in Tallinn would not impress much of the electorate even if it did emerge.
The survey, conducted by Norstat Estonia AS on behalf of the Institute for Societal Research, found just 13 percent in favor of a Reform-Center coalition in Tallinn, compared with 66 percent of respondents who would outright oppose it.
Respondents were asked: "Would you support a coalition between the Reform Party and the Center Party in Tallinn?" The 13 percent responded either "Yes" or "Preferably yes," with the 66 percent opposed similarly in both "No" and "Preferably not" categories, with the remaining 21 percent undecided.
The breakdown by respondents' stated party support saw not only large proportions of the right-wing Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE, 83 percent opposed) and Isamaa (71 percent opposed) state they would not want a Reform-Center coalition in Tallinn, but also smaller majorities from those two parties themselves: Sixty-six percent of respondents who said they are Reform supporters would not want that party in office with Center in Tallinn, while conversely 59 percent of Center voters said they would not want to be in office with Reform in the capital either.
As much as 73 percent of Social Democrats (SDE) supporters also opposed this alignment, with the figure for Eesti 200 supporters only a little lower (65 percent).
In other words, the proposition was fairly unpopular among supporters of all the main parties.
In a similar vein, only 25 percent of Center Party supporters stated they would support a coalition with Reform, while the figure of Reform supporters for the same alliance was even lower at 23 percent.
Reform has been on one side of a recent split with its current coalition partners in Tallinn, SDE, Eesti 200 and Isamaa, ostensibly on the issue of kindergarten fees. EKRE and Center are in opposition in Tallinn, the latter party having been in office in the capital for nearly 20 years, until spring 2024.
Reform issued a press release early in the morning of Monday, June 2 calling for the scrapping of kindergarten fees in Tallinn, currently €50 per child, per month. When the Center Party called for the same policy in a press release published less than two hours earlier, this prompted charges of collusion and a potential effort to install a Reform-Center coalition in Tallinn ahead of this October's local elections.
Norstat conducted its poll online last Friday, June 13 among Estonian citizens aged 18 and over, and there were a total of 985 respondents.
--
Follow ERR News on Facebook, Bluesky and X and never miss an update!
Editor: Mait Ots, Andrew Whyte