Reform, Res Publica look strongest

  • 2004-05-20
  • By The Baltic Times
TALLINN - The two major political parties in the ruling coalition will likely be the winners of the upcoming European Parliament elections, the latest survey by the Turu-uuringute pollster showed.

The Reform Party, the long-lasting coalition player that has survived several political unions, was the most popular among Estonian voters who plan to cast a ballot in the Europarliament elections. The reformists' rating was 16 percent as of the beginning of May.
Res Publica, the coalition-formative party, was the runner-up with 14 percent.
The Center Party, the leading opposition force, was third in the poll with 11-percent.
About 9 percent would vote fore the People's Union and Pro Patria Union and the Social Democrats are supported by about 6 percent of the voters.
According to the poll results, which were published in the Postimees daily on Monday, individual candidates may have good chances of getting one of the six seats reserved for Estonia in the European Parliament. Nearly 11 percent of the respondents said they would vote for individual candidates.
An expert from Turu-uuringute pollster told the Postimees that the relatively high level of support of individual candidates could be a form of protest against the main political parties.
The electorate group that promised to vote for individual candidates – mostly middle-aged, educated women with above-average income and living in Tallinn and northeastern Estonia – may imagine an individual candidate as an abstract, impartial and innocent political force, the expert added.
So far individual candidates have never succeeded at the general elections in Estonia. There are four individual candidates registered for the European Parliament elections.