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101 seats in the Riigikogu 51 seats were needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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ERE | EKE | IM/RP | SDE | EMRL |
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20–29% 30–39% 40–49% 50–59% | 20–29% 30–39% 40–49% 50–59% 60–69% 70–79% | 20–29% 30–39% 40–49% 50–59% | 20–29% 30–39% 40–49% 50–59% | 20–29% 30–39% 40–49% 50–59% 60–69% 80–89% |
Parliamentary elections were held in Estonia on 4 March 2007. It was the world's first nationwide vote where part of the voting was carried out in the form of remote electronic voting via the internet.
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland with Finland on the other side, to the west by the Baltic Sea with Sweden on the other side, to the south by Latvia (343 km), and to the east by Lake Peipus and Russia (338.6 km). The territory of Estonia consists of a mainland and 2,222 islands in the Baltic Sea, covering a total area of 45,227 km2 (17,462 sq mi), water 2,839 km2 (1,096 sq mi), land area 42,388 km2 (16,366 sq mi), and is influenced by a humid continental climate. The official language of the country, Estonian, is the second most spoken Finnic language.
Electronic voting is voting that uses electronic means to either aid or take care of casting and counting votes.
The Internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks that use the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to link devices worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope, linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents and applications of the World Wide Web (WWW), electronic mail, telephony, and file sharing. Some publications no longer capitalize "internet".
The election saw the Estonian Reform Party emerged as the largest faction in the Riigikogu with 31 seats. The Estonian Centre Party finished second with 29 seats, whilst the new Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica lost 16 seats compared to the 35 won by the two parties in the 2003 elections. The Social Democrats gained 4 seats, whilst the Greens entered the Riigikogu for the first time with 7 seats and the People's Union lost seven of its 13 seats.
The Estonian Reform Party is a liberal political party in Estonia. The party is led by Kaja Kallas and has 34 members in the 101-member Riigikogu, making it the largest party in the legislature.
The Riigikogu is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. All important state-related questions pass through the Riigikogu. In addition to approving legislation, the Riigikogu appoints high officials, including the Prime Minister and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and elects the President. The Riigikogu also ratifies significant foreign treaties that impose military and proprietary obligations, bring about changes in law, etc.; approves the budget presented by the government as law and monitors the executive power.
The Estonian Centre Party is a centrist, social-liberal, populist political party in Estonia. It is one of the two largest political parties in Estonia and currently has 26 seats in the Estonian Parliament. The Party is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).
The Centre Party, led by the mayor of Tallinn Edgar Savisaar, had been increasingly excluded from collaboration, since his open collaboration with Putin's United Russia party, real estate scandals in Tallinn, [1] and the Bronze Soldier controversy, considered as a deliberate attempt to split Estonian society by provoking the Russian minority. [2]
Edgar Savisaar is an Estonian politician, one of the founding members of Popular Front of Estonia and the Centre Party. He has served as the acting Prime Minister of Estonia, Minister of the Interior, Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications and Mayor of Tallinn.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer serving as President of Russia since 2012, previously holding the position from 2000 until 2008. In between his presidential terms he was also the Prime Minister of Russia under his close associate Dmitry Medvedev.
United Russia is the ruling political party of the Russian Federation. United Russia is the largest party in Russia and as of 2018 it holds 335 of the 450 seats in the State Duma.
In 2007 Estonia held its and the world's first national Internet election. Voting was available from February 26 to 28. [3] A total of 30,275 citizens (3.4%) used Internet voting. [4]
Electronic voting in Estonia began in October 2005 local elections when Estonia became the first country to have legally binding general elections using the Internet as a means of casting the vote and was declared a success by the Estonian election officials.
The electoral system was a two-tier semi-open list proportional representation system with a 5% (27,510.65 votes) election threshold.
Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected. This as opposed to closed list, which allows only active members, party officials, or consultants to determine the order of its candidates and gives the general voter no influence at all on the position of the candidates placed on the party list. Additionally, an open list system allows voters to select individuals rather than parties. Different systems give voter different amounts of influence. Voter's choice is usually called preference vote.
Proportional representation (PR) characterizes electoral systems in which divisions in an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. If n% of the electorate support a particular political party, then roughly n% of seats will be won by that party. The essence of such systems is that all votes contribute to the result - not just a plurality, or a bare majority. The most prevalent forms of proportional representation all require the use of multiple-member voting districts, as it is not possible to fill a single seat in a proportional manner. In fact, the implementations of PR that achieve the highest levels of proportionality tend to include districts with large numbers of seats.
The electoral threshold is the minimum share of the primary vote which a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to any representation in a legislature. This limit can operate in various ways. For example, in party-list proportional representation systems an election threshold requires that a party must receive a specified minimum percentage of votes, either nationally or in a particular electoral district, to obtain any seats in the legislature. In multi-member constituencies using preferential voting, besides the electoral threshold, to be awarded a seat, a candidate is also required to achieve a quota, either on the primary vote or after distribution of preferences, which depends on the number of members to be return from a constituency.
District number | Electoral District | Seats |
---|---|---|
1 | Haabersti, Põhja-Tallinn and Kristiine districts in Tallinn | 8 |
2 | Kesklinn, Lasnamäe and Pirita districts in Tallinn | 11 |
3 | Mustamäe and Nõmme districts in Tallinn | 8 |
4 | Harjumaa (without Tallinn) and Raplamaa counties | 13 |
5 | Hiiumaa, Läänemaa and Saaremaa counties | 7 |
6 | Lääne-Virumaa county | 6 |
7 | Ida-Virumaa county | 8 |
8 | Järvamaa and Viljandimaa counties | 8 |
9 | Jõgevamaa and Tartumaa counties (without Tartu) | 7 |
10 | Tartu city | 8 |
11 | Võrumaa, Valgamaa and Põlvamaa counties | 9 |
12 | Pärnumaa county | 8 |
Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
---|---|---|---|---|
Estonian Reform Party | 153,044 | 27.8 | 31 | +12 |
Estonian Centre Party | 143,518 | 26.1 | 29 | +1 |
Pro Patria and Res Publica Union | 98,347 | 17.9 | 19 | –16 |
Social Democratic Party | 58,363 | 10.6 | 10 | +4 |
Estonian Greens | 39,279 | 7.1 | 6 | New |
People's Union of Estonia | 39,215 | 7.1 | 6 | –7 |
Party of Estonian Christian Democrats | 9,456 | 1.7 | 0 | 0 |
Constitution Party | 5,464 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 |
Estonian Independence Party | 1,273 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 |
Russian Party in Estonia | 1,084 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 |
Estonian Left Party | 607 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
Independents | 563 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
Invalid/blank votes | 5,250 | – | – | – |
Total | 555,463 | 100 | 101 | 0 |
Registered voters/turnout | 897,243 | 61.9 | – | – |
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, [5] IPU |
The history of Estonia forms a part of the history of Europe. Humans settled in the region of Estonia near the end of the last glacial era, beginning from around 8500 BC. Before German crusaders invaded in the early 13th century, proto-Estonians of ancient Estonia worshipped spirits of nature. Starting with the Northern Crusades in the Middle Ages, Estonia became a battleground for centuries where Denmark, Germany, Russia, Sweden and Poland fought their many wars over controlling the important geographical position of the country as a gateway between East and West.
Juhan Parts is an Estonian politician who was Prime Minister of Estonia from 2003 to 2005 and Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications from 2007 to 2014. Juhan Parts is a member of the Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica party.
The People's Union of Estonia was a political party in Estonia, its last leader being Margo Miljand.
The Social Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in Estonia, currently led by Jevgeni Ossinovski.
Parliamentary elections were held in Estonia on 2 March 2003. Two opposing parties won the most seats, with both the Centre Party and Res Publica Party winning 28 seats in the Riigikogu. Res Publica was able to gain enough support in negotiations after the elections to form a coalition government.
Parliamentary elections were held in Estonia on 7 March 1999. The elections proved disastrous for the Estonian Coalition Party, which won only seven seats together with two of its smaller allies. The Estonian Country People's Union, which participated the election on its own list, obtained seven seats as well.
Andrus Ansip is an Estonian politician, the current European Commissioner for Digital Single Market and Vice President of the European Commission, in office since 2014. Previously, he was Prime Minister of Estonia from 2005 to 2014 and chairman of the liberal Estonian Reform Party from 2004 to 2014.
Jaan Tõnisson was an Estonian statesman, serving as the Prime Minister of Estonia twice during 1919 to 1920, as State Elder from 1927 to 1928 and in 1933, and as Foreign Minister of Estonia from 1931 to 1932.
Estonia has recognised same-sex unions since January 1, 2016 by allowing same-sex couples to sign a cohabitation agreement, the first ex-Soviet state to do so.
Jüri Ratas is an Estonian politician who is the current leader of the Centre Party and the Prime Minister of Estonia. He acted as the vice-president of the Riigikogu from 2007 to 2016 and Mayor of Tallinn from 2005 to 2007. As a mayor of Tallinn he initiated the European Green Capital Award programme.
The Russian Party in Estonia was a minor political party in Estonia.
Vilja Toomast is an Estonian politician, a former Member of the European Parliament. She previously belonged to the Estonian Centre Party which she decided to leave on 9 April 2012.
The Independent Royalist Party of Estonia was a frivolous political party in early post-Soviet Estonia.
The European Parliament election of 2009 in Estonia was the election of the delegation from Estonia to the European Parliament in 2009.
Urmas Reinsalu is an Estonian politician who has been the Minister of Justice since 2015. Previously, Reinsalu has served as the Minister of Defence from 2012 to 2014. Reinsalu is a member of the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union and was party leader from 2012 to 2015.
An indirect election took place in Estonia in 2016 to elect the president of Estonia, who is the country's head of state. The Riigikogu — the Parliament of Estonia — elected Kersti Kaljulaid to be the next head of state of Estonia to succeed Toomas Hendrik Ilves, who had served his second and final term as president. Kaljulaid is the first female head of state of Estonia.
Mihhail Stalnuhhin is an Estonian politician, representing the Estonian Centre Party since 1996. He is a member of the Riigikogu, representing Ida-Virumaa. He was also the chairman of the Narva City Council in 2003-2011 and the chairman of the Riigikogu state budget control committee in 2017-2019.