TALLINN - The latest round of opinion polls has revealed that the Estonian electorate is starting to warm back up to conservatives.
The TNS Emor March polls found that Conservative parties are slowly getting back their popularity, while the left-leaning People's Union came out the furthest behind.
The Reform Party garnered 30 percent of the support 's down 5 percent from February. It was only in May 2007, that the party was supported by 45 percent of the electorate. That spike was mainly due to the party's actions during and after the Bronze Soldier riots.
The People's Union is still stuck with only 4 percentage points 's which means they can't put forward candidates at the the next elections. The party lost popularity following a bribery scandal involving prominent party member Villu Reiljan.
The Greens also saw significant losses, dropping 4 percentage points from 12 percent to
just 8.
In March, Conservatives were supported by 27 percent of voters, in part due to a recent surge of support for the populist Centrer Party (Keskerakond party). After the Bronze Soldier riots, the Center Party was supported only by 7 percent of voters. In the latest poll they managed to draw in an astounding 19 percent.
Traditionally, the Center Party is most popular among Russian-speaking voters.
The party's situation in Tallinn, however, is not so good. They were the only party to have lost support in the city, dropping nearly 5 percentage points. All of the other major parties gained popularity in the capital 's Reform Party garnered 23.3 percent up from 21.1, Pro Patria and Res Publica Union hit 12.5 percent up from 12.4, the Social Democratic Party earned 9.3 percent up from 7.4 and the Greens managed 4.9 percent up from 3.7.
"It's mostly because of raising the land tax in Tallinn, which isn't really a popular decision. Raising the tax has been really unpopular, because the decision hasn't been explained properly," Priit Toobal, chief secretary of the Center Party, told The Baltic Times.
Toobal said the higher taxes would help pay for fixing the city's troubled sewage system.
"It goes mainly to renovate sewages and can't we all agree that we want to have clear water and that our wastewater [is disposed of] properly? Where else could we get that money to do that? Birth benefits? And I have heard complaints that the tax will increase for pensioners too, which is not true 's for them it will stay the same," he said.
The increased land tax is widely regarded as one of the main reasons that the Center Party has lost popularity. Party Chairman Edgar Savisaar isn't extremely popular either 's the opposition recently sent him a public letter saying he is becoming estranged from the people.
This poll drew responses from 781 voters nation-wide.
