Estonia’s incumbent president, Alar Karis, is overwhelmingly the most popular person for next president, according to a Norstat poll conducted in May 2026 for the Institute for Societal Research (YI), ERR reports. The survey shows that 39.1% of respondents support Karis. Mart Helme, founder of the opposition Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE), is far behind with just 10% support. Former foreign minister, MEP Marina Kaljurand is third with 6.7%, followed by former president Kersti Kaljulaid with 5.1%. Support for all other potential candidates is markedly less than 5%. The poll further shows that 67% of respondents would support and 24% would oppose Karis serving a second term as president. In a two-way race between Karis and Kaljulaid, 70% of respondents would support Karis, while 15% would support Kaljulaid. Karis has more support than Kaljulaid among supporters of all parties.
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