43% of respondents support Ülle Madise’s election as president of Estonia — poll
Estonia’s Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise is supported by 43% of respondents as the country’s next president, while 36% do not support her election. This is according to a Norstat poll commissioned by the Ühiskonnauuringute Instituut, ERR News reports.
When asked whether they supported Madise’s election, 43% of participants answered “yes” or “rather yes.” The options “no” and “rather no” were chosen by 36%, while 21% gave no answer.
Support among party voters
Support for Madise is highest among Reform Party voters, at 83%. Among supporters of the Social Democratic Party and the non-parliamentary Parempoolsed party, 69% of respondents in each group support her election, while the figure is 57% among Isamaa voters.
At the same time, 79% of supporters of the opposition EKRE party do not support Madise’s election. Among Centre Party voters, 50% of respondents spoke against her candidacy.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Candidate preferences and direct elections
When survey participants were offered a list of names and asked whom they would like to see as the next president, 29% chose Madise. EKRE representative Mart Helme was named by 12% of respondents, TalTech rector Tiit Land by 9%, diplomat Hannes Hanso by 5%, and entrepreneur Indrek Neivelt by 3%.
Another 15% of respondents would like to see another candidate, while 20% had no preference. Direct presidential elections are supported or rather supported by 70% of survey participants, 22% are against or rather against them, and 8% do not know the answer.
According to the study, 66% of respondents believe that the president should initiate legislative changes to transition to direct elections. The online survey was conducted on August 19–20 among 1,002 Estonian citizens aged 18 and over. The first round of the presidential election is scheduled for September 2.
