Estonia presidential election 2001

Arnold Rüütel was elected President of Estonia on September 21, 2001

The 2001 presidential election in Estonia took place from August 2nd to September 21st. Arnold Rüütel was elected as the second president after Estonian regained independence in 1991 .

background

In August 1991, Estonia declared its separation from the Soviet Union and the restoration of its state independence. In October 1992, Lennart Meri (1929-2006) was elected as the first state president after regaining sovereignty . Meri was confirmed for another term in September 1996 .

houses of Parliament

According to Section 79 of the Estonian Constitution of 1992 , the parliament ( Riigikogu ) is initially responsible for electing the head of state. A candidate needs 68 votes in favor of the 101 parliamentarians to be elected. Three ballots are possible. Due to the difficult majority in parliament, none of the applicants succeeded in gaining the necessary majority in parliament in 2001.

candidate	1st ballot	2nd ballot	3rd ballot
Peeter Kreitzberg	40	36	33
Andres Tarand	38	-	-
Peeter Tulviste	-	35	33

Electoral assembly

Therefore, according to the Estonian Constitution, a special electoral assembly (valimiskogu ) was held on September 21, 1996 at the Estonia Concert Hall in Tallinn . It consisted of the members of the Estonian Parliament and 266 electorates who were sent by the local authorities (towns and cities).

In the electoral assembly, the president is elected who can unite more than half of the votes cast of the 367 members of the electoral assembly.

First ballot

Four candidates competed against each other in the first ballot. None of them could achieve the majority necessary for the election.

candidate	Yes votes
Peeter Kreitzberg	72
Arnold Rüütel	114
Toomas Savi	90
Peeter Tulviste	89

Second ballot

The two best placed in the first ballot faced each other on the same day in a second ballot: the chairman of the conservative, rural People's Union ( Rahvaliit ) and former president of the Supreme Soviet Arnold Rüütel (* 1928) and the Estonian parliamentary president Toomas Savi (* 1942) from the liberal reform party ( Reformierakond ) .

In the runoff election, Arnold Rüütel prevailed with 186 yes-votes against his challenger Toomas Savi (155 yes-votes).

president

Arnold Rüütel began his five-year term as President when he was sworn in before Parliament on October 8, 2001.

In the 2006 presidential election , Rüütel narrowly failed against the social democratic EU parliamentarian and former Foreign Minister Toomas Hendrik Ilves .

Web links

• Estonian Electoral Commission website