At its peak, Center enjoyed support levels of 80 percent or more among Russian-speaking voters. According to February s ratings, the figure is now half that, at 42 percent.
The slide has continued more recently. In December 2020, when Center was in office with the Conservative People s Party of Estonia (EKRE) and Isamaa, support for Center stood at 59 percent. While Center is still in office, following Jüri Ratas resignation last month it no longer holds the prime minister s seat and is the smalelr of the two coalition parties in terms of MPs – 25 to Reform s 34 – while it had been the largest in the Center/EKRE/Isamaa lineup.
It is only a month since Jüri Ratas announced his resignation as prime minister, and with it the end of the Center/EKRE/Isamaa coalition, and the start of the process for forming a new government, ERR senior journalist Toomas Sildam writes. However, time is not on Kallas side, Sildam continues, with the next parliamentary elections due in two years time and the pandemic ongoing, even as Kallas may have thought from the outset that her way of doing things would be very different from her predecessor s.
Kallas and the Reform Party already knew about the investigations into the Center Party, relating to a development in central Tallinn, on January 13 – the day Jüri Ratas (Center) resgined as prime minister, Sildam writes.
Political parties should start with collecting membership fees instead of discussing banning private donations, Anvar Samost finds on the Samost and sildam talk show.
Center Party leader Jüri Ratas said in an interview to Vikerraadio this week that the Riigikogu could discuss banning private donations to parties and creating a situation where parties are financed strictly from the state budget.
Samost found the former prime minister s proposal unclear and an unnecessary solution. It was made based on this idea that parties are somehow unable to make sure private donations are not made in exchange for corrupt favors, he said.
On Monday, the Riigikogu will conduct extraordinary elections to choose the new president and vice-presidents of the Riigikogu. Isamaa chairman Helir-Valdor Seeder will remain as First Vice-President for the time, but EKRE chairman Martin Helme will take over for him in a month and a half s time.
In late-January, Second Vice-President of the Riigikogu Siim Kallas (Reform) announced he would step down from his position, bringing along an extraordinary election of new Riigikogu speakers.
The parliament chooses a new board once a year, in March. Current President of the Riigikogu Henn Põlluaas (EKRE) will also lose his post, likely to be taken over by previous prime minister and Center Party head Jüri Ratas, as was agreed to during the discussions to create a new coalition between Reform and Center.