General election in Estonia in 1920

The agriculturally oriented “ Federation of Farmers ” under Konstantin Päts was the actual winner and was able to gain over fourteen percentage points

Jaan Tõnisson , the leader of the Estonian People's Party (Eesti Rahvaerakond)

Hans Kruus was elected chairman of the left-wing socialist Estonian Independent Socialist Workers Party (EISTP) in 1920

The Estonian parliamentary elections in 1920 took place on November 27-29. It was the elections for the first legislative term of the Estonian Parliament ( Riigikogu ) after the adoption of the Estonian Constitution of 1920 by the Constituent Assembly ( Asutav Kogu ) .

Election date

The first constitution of the Republic of Estonia was adopted on June 15, 1920 by the Constituent Assembly elected in April 1919 .

On July 2, 1920, the Constituent Assembly, which exercised legislative power in Estonia until a parliament was elected , passed the electoral law for the Republic of Estonia (Riigikogu valimise, rahvahääletamise ja rahva algatamise õiguse seadus) .

The new Estonian Constitution came into force on December 21, 1920, immediately after the first parliamentary elections. The legislative mandate of the Constituent Assembly ended the day before. Legislative power was from now on exercised solely through the Riigikogu .

Electoral process

The 100 MPs were elected for a three-year legislative period on the basis of proportional representation. The parties drew up lists for the ten constituencies for election. The same candidates could run in multiple constituencies. Seats were allocated according to the D'Hondt procedure .

Election result

In the parliamentary elections in 1920, 17 parties and groups stood for election. Ten made it into the first legislative term of the Riigikogu .

The winner of the election was the Estonian Labor Party (Eesti Tööerakond) . Despite losing votes, it moved into the Estonian parliament as the largest parliamentary group with 22 seats. In 1919/20 the party had moved more into the center of the left wing of the party spectrum.

With 21 MPs, the Federation of Farmers was slightly behind. The agrarian party was able to make up for the unexpected fall in the elections for the Constituent Assembly and nearly tripled its share of the vote.

The loser in the election was the conservative Estonian People's Party (Eesti Rahvaerakond), which, as the ruling party, had to push through unpopular measures. At the same time, the Estonian Social Democrats, which had made up the strongest faction in the Asutav Kogu , lost half of their electorate. The social democratic ESDTP lost votes in favor of the more radical left-wing socialist EISTP (11 seats) and the communists (5 seats).

The Baltic German and Russian-speaking minorities were also able to send members to parliament. Hans Pöhl entered the Riigikogu as a representative of the Swedish minority on the electoral roll of the Christian People's Party . Attempts to found an independent Jewish party in Estonia , however, failed.

Official end result

Parties represented in parliament

Official final result of the parliamentary election 1920 (100 seats)

Political party		German name	political orientation	% (Election 1920)	Seats I. Riigikogu (election 1920)	% (Election of Asutav Kogu 1919)
	Eesti Tööerakond	Estonian Labor Party	Middle left	21.0%	22nd	25.1%
	Põllumeeste Kogud	Association of farmers	conservative-agrarian	20.8%	21st	6.5%
	Eesti Sotsiaaldemokraatiline Tööliste party	Estonian Social Democratic Labor Party	social democratic	17.0%	18th	33.3%
	Eesti Iseseisev Sotsialistlik Tööliste Party	Estonian Independent Socialist Workers Party	left socialist	10.6%	11	5.8%
	Eesti Rahvaerakond	Estonian People's Party	Middle right	10.4%	10	20.7%
	Kristlik Rahvaerakond	Christian People's Party	Christian-conservative	7.5%	7th	4.4%
	Eesti Ametiühisuste Kesknõukogu	Central Council of Estonian Trade Unions	Communist	5.3%	5	-
	Saksa-Balti Erakond	Baltic German Party	Baltic German minority	3.9%	4th	2.5%
	Vene Rahvuslik Liit Eestis	Russian National Association in Estonia	Russian-speaking minority	1.8%	1	1.2%
	Majandusline praises	Economic grouping	Interest party	1.1%	1	-

Parties not represented in parliament from 1920 to 1923

The other parties and groups did not receive parliamentary seats:

• Eesti Vabariigi Peipsiäärsed kodanikud ("Citizens of the Republic of Estonia on Lake Peipus "): 0.3%
• Meie Matsi mehed : 0.1%
• Eesti Vabariigi Võitlussõjavägi ("Fighting Army of the Republic of Estonia"): 0.0%
• Juudi Vähemusrahvus ( Jewish minority ): 0.0%
• Juudi rahva vähemus ( Jewish minority ): 0.0%
• Kristlik rühm ("Christian group"): 0.0%
• Kuigatsi valla hääleõiguslikud kodanikud "(Citizens of Kuigatsi Municipality entitled to vote )": 0.0%

Government formation

On January 4, 1921, the newly elected parliament met for the first time in the “White Hall” of the palace on Tallinn Toompea . The plenary elected Otto Strandman ( Estonian Labor Party ) as President of Parliament. It was not until September 12, 1922, that Parliament was able to inaugurate the newly designed rooms by architects Eugen Habermann and Herbert Johanson .

The government of the Estonian Labor Party, headed by the State Elder (Riigivanem) Anton Piip, resigned on January 25, 1921. Konstantin Päts from the Association of Farmers formed a new coalition government . The center-right coalition included:

• Põllumeeste Kogud (Association of Farmers)
• Eesti Tööerakond (Estonian Labor Party)
• Kristlik Rahvaerakond (Christian People's Party)
• Eesti Rahvaerakond (Estonian People's Party)

The government remained in office until November 1922. Then Juhan Kukk ( Estonian Labor Party ) formed a new government that remained in office until the end of the legislative period. In parliament it was able to rely on a majority of the Põllumeeste Kogud (Association of Farmers), the Eesti Tööerakond (Estonian Labor Party) and the Eesti Sotsiaaldemokraatlik Tööliste Party (Estonian Social Democratic Labor Party).

Dissolution of parliament

The first riigikogu was unable to fully end its three-year term. On the initiative of the Christian People's Party , a referendum was held in February 1923 on religious education in public schools. Since the people adopted the law previously rejected by the Riigikogu , the parliament had to be dissolved.

The elections for the second legislative period of the Estonian parliament take place from May 5th to 23rd, 1923.

literature

• Sulev Vahtre (Ed.): Eesti Ajalugu. Volume 6: Vabadussõjast Taasiseseisvumiseni. Ilmamaa, Tartu 2005, ISBN 9985-77-142-7 , p. 69 f.
• II Riigikogu valimised 5th - 7th mail 1923. Elections au Parlement en mai 1923. Riigi Statistika Keskbüroo, Tallinn 1923.

Web links

• List of MPs in the first legislative period with biographical information (Estonian; PDF file; 72 kB)
• 1920 - Meie parliament ja aeg (Estonian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated June 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ compared with the result of the Eesti Maarahva Liit
3. ↑ compared with the result of the Eesti Sotsialistide-Revolutionary Party