Politics in Estonia takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Estonia is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Legislative power is vested in the Estonian parliament. Executive power is exercised by the government, which is led by the prime minister. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Estonia is a member of the United Nations, the European Union, and NATO.
Otto August Strandman was an Estonian politician, who served as Prime Minister (1919) and State Elder of Estonia (1929–1931).
The Government of India is the government of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of 36 states and union territories. The government is led by the prime minister who exercises the most executive power and selects all the other ministers. The country has been governed by a NDA-led government since 2014. The prime minister and their senior ministers belong to the Union Council of Ministers—its executive decision-making committee being the cabinet.
The prime minister of Estonia is the head of government of the Republic of Estonia. The prime minister is nominated by the president after appropriate consultations with the parliamentary factions and confirmed by the parliament (Riigikogu). In case of disagreement, the parliament can reject the president's nomination and choose their own candidate. In practice, since the prime minister must maintain the confidence of parliament in order to remain in office, they are usually the leader of the senior partner in the governing coalition. The current prime minister is Kristen Michal of the Reform Party. He took the office on 23 July 2024 following the resignation of Kaja Kallas.
The Riigikogu is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. In addition to approving legislation, the Parliament appoints high officials, including the prime minister and chief justice of the Supreme Court, and elects the president. Among its other tasks, the Riigikogu also ratifies significant foreign treaties that impose military and proprietary obligations and bring about changes in law, as well as approves the budget presented by the government as law, and monitors the executive power.
Konstantin Päts was an Estonian statesman and the country's president from 1938 to 1940. Päts was one of the most influential politicians of the independent democratic Republic of Estonia, and during the two decades prior to World War II he also served five times as the country's State Elder. After the 16–17 June 1940 Soviet invasion and occupation of Estonia, Päts remained formally in office for over a month, until he was forced to resign, imprisoned by the new Stalinist regime, and deported to the USSR, where he died in 1956.
Estonia elects a legislature on the national level. The Riigikogu has 101 members, elected for a four-year term by proportional representation with a 5% electoral threshold. A head of state – the president – is elected for a five-year term by parliament or an electoral college. Locally, Estonia elects local government councils, which vary in size. Election law states the minimum size of a council depending on the size of municipality. Local government councils are elected by proportional representation too.
The president of the Republic of Estonia is the head of state of the Republic of Estonia. The current president is Alar Karis, elected by Parliament on 31 August 2021, replacing Kersti Kaljulaid.
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.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Estonia since 1 January 2024. The government elected in the March 2023 election, led by Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and consisting of the Reform Party, the Social Democrats and Estonia 200, vowed to legalize same-sex marriage. Legislation to open marriage to same-sex couples was introduced to the Riigikogu in May 2023, and was approved in a final reading by 55 votes to 34 on 20 June. It was signed into law by President Alar Karis on 27 June, and took effect on 1 January 2024. Estonia was the first Baltic state, the first post-Soviet state, the twentieth country in Europe, and the 35th in the world to legalise same-sex marriage.
Jüri Ratas is an Estonian politician who served as the prime minister of Estonia from 2016 to 2021 and as the leader of the Centre Party from 2016 to 2023, and the mayor of Tallinn from 2005 to 2007. Ratas was a member of the Centre Party until switching to Isamaa in 2024.
The Constitution of Estonia is the fundamental law of the Republic of Estonia and establishes the state order as that of a democratic republic where the supreme power is vested in its citizens. The first Constitution was adopted by the freely elected Estonian Constituent Assembly on 15 June 1920 and came into force on 21 December 1920. Heavily amended on 24 January 1934, following a referendum in 1933, it was in force until the second Constitution was enacted on 1 January 1938. It remained in force, de facto, until 16 June 1940, when the Soviet Union occupied Estonia and, de jure, until 28 June 1992, when the third and current Constitution of the Republic of Estonia was adopted by referendum.
The Estonian Chancellor of Justice(Estonian: Õiguskantsler) is an independent supervisor of the basic principles of the Constitution of Estonia and the protector of individual rights. The institution seeks to ensure that authorities fulfil the obligations deriving from the principles of the rule of law and protection of human and social rights, human dignity, freedom, equality and democracy. The Chancellor of Justice is appointed to office by the Riigikogu on the proposal of the President.
Resistance Fighting Day also known as Otto Tief Government Day is a public holiday in Estonia which takes on 22 September. It honors the Estonian commander Otto Tief's attempt to restore Estonian independence in 1944. The holiday is a date of remembrance, commemorating the victims of the subsequent re-establishment of Soviet rule in Estonia following the Nazi rule, and the resulting sovietisation of the republic from 1944 to 1950. It falls under the cultural symbols designed to recognize the Occupation of the Baltic states until 1991. It was known in the former Estonian SSR, as well as today by the Russian Federation and pro-Russian forces in Estonia as the Day of the Liberation of Tallinn from Nazi Invaders, celebrating the Soviet Tallinn Offensive by the Red Army's 2nd Shock and 8th Armies and the Baltic Fleet against the Wehrmacht.
The Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service is the foreign intelligence service of Estonia. The Foreign Intelligence Service coordinates with all Estonian intelligence functions, collects intelligence concerning foreign interests and activities, and transmits information to the President, Prime Minister, the General Staff of the Estonian Defence Forces, the Interior Minister, the Foreign Minister, and the Minister of Defence.
Kersti Kaljulaid is an Estonian politician who served as the fifth president of Estonia between 2016 and 2021, and was its first and only female head of state since the country declared independence in 1918. She was also the youngest president, aged 46 at the time of her election.
Jüri Ratas's second cabinet was the 50th cabinet of Estonia, in office from 29 April 2019 to 14 January 2021. It was a centre-right coalition cabinet of the Centre Party, right-wing populist Conservative People's Party (EKRE) and conservative Isamaa.
Administrative reform in Estonia was administrative reform which took place in 2017 and resulting in new administrative units in Estonia. In general, old units incorporated voluntarily, but in some cases incorporations were forced by state powers. After the reform, there are 79 administrative units : 15 urban and 64 rural municipalities. 185 municipalities merged to form 51 new ones, and 28 municipalities did not merge.
The second cabinet of Kaja Kallas, was the cabinet of Estonia from 18 July 2022 until 17 April 2023 when it was succeeded by the third Kallas cabinet following the 2023 election.
Triple Alliance is a commonly used political term in Estonia to refer to the various coalition governments between the centre-left Social Democratic Party, centre-right Reform Party and conservative Isamaa or their predecessors. This coalition has formed four times in history - from 1999 to 2002, from 2007 to 2009, from 2015 to 2016 and from 2022 to 2023. None of the coalitions governments have lasted a full parliamentary term. All of the Triple Alliance cabinets have been the second ones of the respective Prime Minister.
