The election campaign is cranking up the heat as we enter the final few days of mud-slinging. The 2007 Estonian Parliamentary Elections will be held on Sunday March 4th and thank God for that!
Since the 1st of January every media outlet has been swamping the populace with political promise after political promise - frankly everyone is heartsick of the whole thing, not least because of the remarkably low quality of the messages on offer.
The Reform Party, a conservative grouping, has the simplest message - Lower Taxes for a Richer Population. Reform has championed tax cuts for years - they were the party which boldly promised and then introduced 0% Corporate Tax. The main thrust is a flat rate of income tax set at 18%, down from 22%, giving all taxpayer a higher disposable income. There slogan relating to that has been Tax-Free Friday which has been communicated well by adverts.
The Centre Party uses the populist Higher Salaries - Richer Nation. Higher salaries might indeed make the nation richer but where will the money come from? This has not been revealed yet and the Western European salary levels being touted will certainly have to be met by somebody, somewhere! This is a brilliant policy which would undoubtedly bankrupt the Estonian state in double quick time if it were not for the fact that party leader Edgar Savisaar is the éminence grise of the nation - no person with the ability to count to 100, even with the use of Cuisenaire rods, would trust his economic policies let alone any other of his ideas. The Centre Party is the largest party for two reasons:
Since the 1st of January every media outlet has been swamping the populace with political promise after political promise - frankly everyone is heartsick of the whole thing, not least because of the remarkably low quality of the messages on offer.
The Reform Party, a conservative grouping, has the simplest message - Lower Taxes for a Richer Population. Reform has championed tax cuts for years - they were the party which boldly promised and then introduced 0% Corporate Tax. The main thrust is a flat rate of income tax set at 18%, down from 22%, giving all taxpayer a higher disposable income. There slogan relating to that has been Tax-Free Friday which has been communicated well by adverts.
The Centre Party uses the populist Higher Salaries - Richer Nation. Higher salaries might indeed make the nation richer but where will the money come from? This has not been revealed yet and the Western European salary levels being touted will certainly have to be met by somebody, somewhere! This is a brilliant policy which would undoubtedly bankrupt the Estonian state in double quick time if it were not for the fact that party leader Edgar Savisaar is the éminence grise of the nation - no person with the ability to count to 100, even with the use of Cuisenaire rods, would trust his economic policies let alone any other of his ideas. The Centre Party is the largest party for two reasons:
1. The conservative vote is splintered among two parties which occupy the same ground,
2. Cuisenaire rods are virtually unheard of in Estonia.
The Centrists have jumped on the Tax-Free Friday message by releasing their own TV ads showing all manner of public services - schools, hospitals etc. - closed on Friday because of lack of funds to pay for their opening. Wonderful stuff when one considers that the Centrists have singularly failed to explain where their magical budget will come from!
Fatherland & Res Publica is another conservative party - at least they removed one conservative grouping when they merged. If there was any sense they would also merge with Reform and in so doing eclipse the Centre Party's position.
The SDs managed to conspire to elect their man as President last year and that was a good job well done. Toomas Hendrik Ilves is a clever and personable statesman who does his country no harm on the international stage whatsoever. Unfortunately the SDs seem to have run out of steam and they are in serious danger of missing out on parliament if they fail to reach the 5% voting share necessary to ensure representation.
The Greens look likely to have something to say about the destination of the Prime Minister's job with a steady 10%+ in the polls and about time too! Green issues have been a consolatory sweetener in the past and although large strides have been made since the "yellow air" over Tallinn of the early 90s there is still a long way to go.
And that's about it really.
Except that the first three named parties have been sneaking into our living rooms every evening by sponsoring prime-time TV offerings! Yes that's right.
Can you imagine this in Britain? "That was the News at Ten. Now we have Lethal Weapon sponsored by the Labour Party." Or how about this? "It's time for Match of the Day brought to you by David Cameron and the Conservative Party." We just wouldn't let it happen!
It is a really insidious way of getting the message across and leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. But then again that's Estonian politics for you!
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