Rahvuskogu
The Rahvuskogu (“National Assembly”) was the constituent assembly of the Republic of Estonia in 1937. It worked out a new constitution that came into force on January 1, 1938.
prehistory
In a bloodless coup on March 12, 1934, the Estonian Prime Minister and incumbent President Konstantin Päts took power in the country with the support of the military under the leadership of Johan Laidoner . Laidoner was appointed supreme commander of the armed forces on the same day.
With his action, Päts wanted to counter a success, believed to be certain, of the right-wing extremist " League of Freedom Fighters " ( Eesti Vabadussõjalaste Liit ) in the parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for May 3, 1934. The two bourgeois candidates for the presidency, Konstantin Päts for the “ Association of Farmers ” ( Põllumeeste Kogud ) and Johan Laidoner for the “ National Center Party ” ( Rahvuslik Keskerakond ) and the “ Settlers Association ” ( Asunike Koondis ), feared an overwhelming one, and not wrongly Election victory for Andres Larka from the Association of Freedom Fighters.
Way to the police state
The government imposed a state of emergency ("state of defense") for six months and arrested around four hundred political opponents, most of them members of the League of Freedom Fighters. Political meetings and demonstrations were banned. The mandates of the Federation of Freedom Fighters, which had great success in the local elections at the end of 1933, were canceled.
The parliamentary and presidential elections were postponed by a decree by Prime Minister Päts of March 19, 1934 "until the end of the state of emergency". In a subsequent decision, the Estonian State Court ( Riigikohus ) upheld the lawfulness of the declaration of a state of emergency and the postponement of the elections at the end of 1936.
Prime Minister Päts de facto suspended the constitution , which had been in force since January 24, 1934, and in the following months established a police state based primarily on the army, police and domestic secret service. He had the state administration scoured for political opponents and dismissed officials and judges who were unpopular.
On September 7, 1934, the state of emergency was extended by a further year (then in the September months of 1935, 1936 and 1937 for a further twelve months). The Estonian Parliament ( Riigikogu ) did not meet after October 2, 1934, under pressure from the government. Estonia thus remained de facto without a legislature. Prime Minister Päts ruled with decrees that had the force of law.
In autumn 1934, Päts, in consultation with Laidoner, appointed Karl Einzund (later estonized in Karel Eenpalu) as the third strong man in the regime as Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister.
On March 5, 1935, the Interior Minister issued a ban on political activity by the parties. It was replaced two days later by the newly established Fatherland Union ( Isamaaliit ) as the regime's bipartisan “culture” association. At the same time, the government created fifteen new (professional) class associations between 1934 and 1936, which, similar to the Austrian model, were supposed to articulate the political interests of the various population groups.
In March 1935 the government-critical newspaper Maaleht was banned and the newspaper Postimees, which was also critical, was taken over by the government. In December 1935, the government struck another blow against the members of the former League of Freedom Fighters and completely crushed the movement in a wave of arrests.
Convocation of the Rahvuskogu
In 1934/35 Konstantin Päts consolidated his authoritarian rule, which could be based on the approval of a considerable part of the Estonian population.
At the same time, the global economy and the economic situation in Europe improved noticeably. Estonia changed more and more from an agricultural to an industrial country. The devaluation of the Estonian krona , which was decided under the previous government, favored exports. At the same time, the local farmers were protected from cheap agricultural imports. State intervention by the authoritarian regime had a noticeably positive effect on economic growth and an increase in prosperity for broad sections of the population compared to the largely unbridled capitalism that had prevailed before. The economic downside was a rapidly growing foreign debt and a depreciation of the own currency.
At the end of 1935, the government, now firmly in the saddle, decided to put the political system back on an orderly constitutional foundation. The question was whether to change the existing constitution or to draft a new Basic Law. The rule of Päts, Laidoner and Eenpalu should not be questioned. For the purpose of propagating a new constitution, Päts had the “Popular Front for the Creation of the Basic Law” ( Põhiseaduse Elluviimise Rahvarinne ) called into being.
On January 8, 1936, Konstantin Päts issued Decree No. 3 in which he called a referendum. The people, as the highest sovereign, should decide on the question of convening a constituent assembly, the Rahvuskogu ("National Assembly"). The main features of the new constitution were laid down in the referendum: state authority comes from the people; the Republic of Estonia has an elected head of state appointed by the government; the government works equally with a bicameral parliament.
The National Assembly should consist of two chambers. The first chamber should include eighty elected representatives who are elected on the basis of general, free and equal elections. The second chamber consisted of forty members. Various Estonian institutions and the head of government himself were responsible for naming them.
Referendum
The referendum on convening the Rahvuskogu took place from February 23-25, 1936. A free political debate was not possible in the ruling police state. The result was what the government wanted.
On March 6, the main electoral committee announced the final result. According to this, 629,217 citizens entitled to vote had taken part in the referendum. 474,218 voted for the calling of the Rahvuskogu (62.4%), 148,824 against. 6,175 votes were invalid. The referendum that authorized Konstantin Päts to convene the Rahvuskogu was thus successful.
It was noteworthy that in the second largest Estonian city Tartu with the most important university in the country, the majority had voted against the National Assembly.
opposition
The opposition boycotted both the vote and the subsequent elections to the first chamber of the Rahvuskogu . On October 30, 1936, the four former heads of government Jaan Teemant , Jaan Tõnisson , Juhan Kukk and Ants Piip wrote a "memorandum" ( märgukiri ) to Prime Minister Päts. In it, they unequivocally demanded that the restrictions on civil liberties be lifted. They accused the government of turning Estonia into a police state. A return to democracy must be initiated immediately.
The Estonian government completely ignored the letter. It only made it to the Estonian public through the Finnish press. The authors then boycotted the referendum. They were joined by the National Center Party ( Rahvuslik Keskerakond ), the Siedlerbund ( Asunike Koondis ) and the right wing of the socialists.
Elections to the first chamber
The elections for the first chamber of the Rahvuskogu took place from December 12-14 , 1936.
For the first time in Estonian constitutional history, the election took place according to majority voting . For this purpose, Estonia was divided into eighty constituencies. All Estonian citizens who were at least 25 years old, had one hundred supporter signatures and had deposited a deposit of 250 kroner had the right to vote .
A total of 113 candidates stood for election. In constituencies in which only one candidate stood for election, this candidate was automatically elected without a vote. This was the case in fifty constituencies.
If more than two candidates ran in one constituency, a simple majority of the votes was sufficient. Voter turnout was low in the constituencies where the polls took place.
Members of the second chamber
The forty members of the second chamber were appointed by various institutions:
- two representatives of the judiciary
- two representatives of local authorities
- thirteen representatives of economic or professional bodies
- a representative of the cultural self-government of the minorities
- two representatives from the universities (one each from the University of Tartu and one from the Tallinn Institute of Technology )
- Two representatives each of the Kaitseliit and the bearers of the Freedom Cross
- two representatives of the churches (the bishop of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Metropolitan of the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church )
- ten members appointed by the State Elder
The representatives were determined in accordance with the respective regulations of the corporations. The representative of the Baltic Germans was Hellmuth Weiss (1900–1992).
Works of the Rahvuskogu
The National Assembly was convened on February 18, 1937. The members were sworn in at the first meeting. Chairman of the first chamber was Jüri Uluots selected, the chairman of the second chamber Mihkel Pung . When they met, the Rahvuskogu also took over the legislative tasks of the Estonian parliament.
The Rahvuskogu had six months to draft a new constitution. The two chambers worked separately from each other. Disagreements should be resolved in compromise. If this is not possible, a joint meeting decided in which the majority of the votes were decisive.
On Pats' initiative of February 23, 1937, the Polish constitution of 1935 was to be the model for the new constitution . Three days after it was called up, the Rahvuskogu accepted Päts' draft as the basis for the work. Päts' confidante Johannes Klesment had a large share of the content .
New constitution
In its joint session of the two chambers, the Rahvuskogu adopted the new Estonian constitution on July 28, 1937. 115 members voted for the draft, three against and two abstained.
At the same time, the Rahvuskogu adopted various implementing laws on the organization of the state, including the Law on the Election of the President, the Law on the Election of the Riigivolikogu , the Law on the Formation of the Riiginõukogu , the Law on the Remuneration of the President and a law with transitional provisions .
On August 13, 1937, the Rahvuskogu ended its activity. The solemn closing meeting took place four days later. The new constitution was signed by Konstantin Päts on August 17, 1937 and published in the State Gazette ( Riigi Teataja ) on September 3 . The new Basic Law came into force on January 1, 1938.
literature
- Sulev Vahtre (Ed.): Eesti ajalugu VI. Tartu 2005, pp. 92-106
Web links
- Pictures, timetable, references (year 1936)
- Pictures, timetable, references (year 1937)
Individual evidence
- ↑ nlib.ee ( Memento of the original dated August 6, 2013 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.
- ↑ The fourth candidate for the presidential election was August Rei from the Estonian Socialist Workers' Party ( Eesti Sotsialistlik Tööliste Party )
- ↑ RT 1934, 25, 184
- ↑ Riigikohus ütleb: Kaitseseisukord ja 1934 a. valimiste edasilükkamine on kooskõlas põhiseadusega ( Wikisource , Estonian)
- ↑ RT 1936, 3, 21
- ↑ RT 1936, 81, 654
- ↑ RT 1936, 3, 21
- ^ RT 1936, 21, 141
- ↑ Contemporary newsreel report (Estonian Film Archive)
- ↑ my.tele2.ee ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ nlib.ee ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2011 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.
- ↑ riigikogu.ee
- ^ RT 1937, 9, 74
- ↑ nlib.ee ( Memento of the original from June 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ RT 1937, 71, 590
- ^ RT 1937, 71, 591
- ^ RT 1937, 71, 592
- ↑ RT 1937, 71, 593
- ↑ RT 1937, 71, 596
- ^ RT 1937, 71, 598
