TALLINN, Estonia: Eurozone newcomer Estonia's parties wrapped up a general election campaign Saturday, with the centre-right poised for a new mandate after steering the Baltic nation out of a deep recession.
Despite an austerity drive launched by Prime Minister Andrus Ansip after the slump struck, opinion polls give his two-party government a clear lead over the left-leaning opposition in Sunday's vote.
Ansip's Reform Party and junior coalition partner the Pro Patria and Res Public Union or IRL are forecast to muster 49-50 percent support.
The rating of the biggest opposition party, the left-leaning Centre Party, is 22-25 percent, and that of the Social Democrats, 13-16 percent.
Ansip hit back Saturday against opposition charges that, after measures including slashing state-sector wages, he now planned to tax and even cut pensions.
"All claims that the Reform Party plans to tax pensions are untrue. And we have no plans to cut pensions," he told reporters.
Centre's leader Edgar Savisaar mayor of the capital Tallinn has said it was time for a "wake-up call" and that ordinary people should be top of the agenda.
Ansip came to power in a 2005 reshuffle, a year after Estonia joined the European Union. The nation of 1.3 million is one of the bloc's smallest members.
In 2007, he became the first prime minister to win a general election since Estonia regained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 after five decades under Moscow's control.
He has been at the helm as Estonia swung from a "tiger" boom to a breathtaking slump amid the global crisis and then back to recovery.
Estonia's economy shrank by 14.1 percent in 2009 -- one of the world's deepest recessions before growing 3.1 percent in 2010.
The government, known even before the crisis for conservative fiscal policies that led to budget surpluses and the EU's lowest debt, began an austerity drive. A key aim was to ensure Estonia met criteria for adopting the euro. It did so on January 1.
Ansip's critics have focused on his unrelenting conservative economic policies and alleged brushing off of social problems such as unemployment. Joblessness jumped from a record low of 4.0 percent on the eve of the crisis to a post-independence high of almost 20 percent in early 2010.
But the government underlines that it has fallen amid the recovery last week the rate was 10.3 percent "I believe that even our most ardent opponents will understand one day that we got through the crisis in the best possible shape," Ansip said this week.
The coalition is aiming for a majority in Estonia's 101-member parliament, where it had 49 seats after losing control in a 2009 revolt over a freeze on unemployment benefit hikes -- which then hampered its policy drive.
Polling stations open Sunday at 9:00 am (0700 GMT) and close at 8:00 pm (1800 GMT). Results are expected Sunday night.
A record 15 percent of the electorate cast ballots in advance via a secure Internet portal used since 2005. Estonia, known for its hi-tech sector, is unique in allowing e-voting in general elections.
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