Provisional Parliament of the Governorate of Estonia
The Provisional Diet of the Estonia Governorate (Estonian Ajutine Maanõukogu , unofficially Maapäev ) was the parliament of the Estonia Governorate between July 14, 1917 and April 23, 1919 .
history
With the February Revolution in Russia in 1917, the tsarist rule that had existed since 1710 was also abolished in Estonia. On April 12, 1917, the Provisional Government of Russia issued a decree on the autonomy of Estonia. In May and June 1917, the general, indirect elections to the provisional state parliament of the Estonia Governorate ( Ajutine Maanõukogu , unofficially called Maapäev ), based in Tallinn, took place there.
At the time of the election, the governorate comprised the former, smaller governorate of Estonia and the Estonian-speaking areas of the governorate of Livonia. The Estonian demand for the amalgamation of all Estonian-speaking areas in one government was taken into account. The turnout was relatively low at 30%. The voting system for the 62 seats was very time-consuming and complicated. However, it led to a balanced urban / rural distribution of the MPs and to the formation of the Estonian party system. The state parliament was constituted on July 14, 1917.
On November 28, 1917, shortly after the coup d'état of the Bolsheviks in Petrograd on November 7, 1917, the provisional state parliament in Tallinn declared itself in its last session on the supreme power in Estonia until a constituent assembly convened. The assembly set up a council of elders ( Eesti maapäeva vanemate nõukogu ), which was also competent to legislate in the event of a crisis. The delegates did not comply with the Bolsheviks' demand for the state parliament to dissolve itself. Eleven days later, the Bolsheviks forcibly dissolved the state parliament. The MPs went underground. State authority in Estonia was exercised from November 1917 to February 1918 by the Bolshevik Revolutionary War Committee of Estonia ( Eestimaa Sõja-Revolutionary Committee ) and was marked by atrocities against regime opponents.
On February 19, 1918, under the impression of the Russian-Bolshevik troops withdrawing from Estonia in the course of the First World War and the emerging power vacuum , the council of elders of the state parliament adopted the nationally-minded Estonian “independence manifesto ” and formed the three-person “rescue committee” ( popes' committee ) with extensive executive powers.
The council of elders of the state parliament declared on February 24, 1918 in Tallinn with the " Manifesto to all the peoples of Estonia " ( Manifesto Kõigile Eestimaa Rahvastele ), citing the sovereignty of the people , Estonia's state independence from Russia was finally declared. On the same day, he appointed the 13-member Provisional Government of Estonia, which should also include members of the national minorities.
The very next day, Tallinn was occupied by German imperial troops in the course of the First World War . Leading Estonian politicians had to go underground again. Only with the collapse of the German Empire could on 11./14. November 1918 the Provisional Government will again exercise effective state power over the territory of the Republic of Estonia. The state parliament was also able to resume its work. However, the situation remained extremely unstable.
On November 28, 1918 Bolshevik troops invaded Estonia. In the subsequent Estonian War of Freedom , which lasted until February 1920, Estonia was able to maintain its independence militarily. The war situation, however, shaped the work of the constituent assembly of the young republic.
Elections to the Constituent Assembly of the Republic of Estonia were held from April 5 to 7, 1919. On April 23, 1919, the Asutav Kogu was constituted, which was subsequently both the constituent assembly and the legislative body of the Republic of Estonia.
Chairperson
July 14, 1917 to October 25, 1917: Artur Vallner
October 25, 1917 to November 27, 1918: Otto Strandman
November 27, 1918 to February 3, 1919: Ado Birk
February 3, 1919 to April 23, 1919: Kaarel Parts
literature
- Karsten Brüggemann : The founding of the Republic of Estonia and the end of the “one and indivisible Russia”. The Petrograd Front of the Russian Civil War 1918–1920. Wiesbaden 2002.
