Commenting on the opposition Conservative People's Party's (EKRE) low rating, party chair Martin Helme said that while there is no reason to panic, he is definitely not happy with the state of affairs.

"As for the reason, we have to say that plagiarism is the highest form of flattery. We have sometimes been criticized for EKRE lacking new, fresh ideas. We have ideas that require putting into practice — talking about energy policy, family policy, immigration policy — we have been saying for a decade that these things need doing, and they still haven't been done," the party leader said.

"But lo and behold — a number of items in our program have been poached by Isamaa, while the Center Party is copying a bunch of others. Now, I even see the Reform Party copying our policy — we have been saying for three elections that in order to support having kids, we need income tax incentives for families with children, a reduction of 5 percent per child."

Martin Helme said that in such a situation, the party needs to convince voters that EKRE as the original is always better than copies. He gave the Reform Party's idea of a lower income tax rate for mothers as one example of how the original is better.

"It is a good example of the copy being inferior compared to the original. What we are saying is that both parents, including fathers — because men being the primary breadwinners is still very common in Estonian families — should qualify for the exemption. Secondly, it [the rate reduction] needs to be bigger," Helme said.

The EKRE leader said it is too soon to jump to conclusions based on opinion polls a year before elections.

"To try and gleam the elections result based on polls today — while it's something politicians and journalists delight in doing, it doesn't tell us where we'll be in the second half of March next year."

There is no reason to claim with certainty that Isamaa will win the Riigikogu elections after leading the polls for a long time.

"I'm looking at the dynamics, and I'm not at all sure Isamaa will win the next elections — there's nothing to stop the Center Party from overtaking them at some point," Helme remarked.

EKRE's goal is to be part of the next government, he said. "We had several consecutive governments that included Isamaa while the party's rating was very low, but where they still managed to blackmail [the others] despite being the junior partner. I think there are things we can learn from that," Helme said.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and X and never miss an update!