Estonian Government

Estonia has had four different constitutions since establishing independence in 1920. However, during Soviet occupation of Estonia, there was a Soviet constitution, but it was not ratified or subjected to referendum. The current constitution was enacted in 1992 and blends aspects of previous constitutions.

To the Left is the Estonian President, Andrus Ansip. To the right is Estonian Prime Minister Toomas Hendrik Ilves. Below is a photo of Stenbock House, the seat of Estonian Government.

Government Layout and Elections

Estonia is a parliamentary, representative, democratic republic. As such they have free, timely elections to elect officials to represent the citizens of Estonia in parliament. Estonia has fifteen different counties. The capital is located in Tallinn.

Judicial Branch
Estonia has a 19 member Supreme Court called the Riigikohus. The chairperson is appointed by the legislature.

Legislative Branch
The parliament, Riigikogu, is a unicameral house made up of 101 members. The members are elected every 4 years. The single house legislature is responsible for legislation, budget, appointment of officials (Including the heads of both the judicial and executive branches), the president (if necessary), ratification of treaties and military obligations. Estonia utilizes a system of proportional representation. This means that people vote for a party instead of an individual. The percent of the total overall vote that the party gets is the percent of the available seats they obtain in parliament. Because of this, there are currently six parties that occupy the Estonian legislature. Often times, there are one to two dominant parties, and parties with a smaller percent of the overall vote have no chance of reaching a majority on their own. As such, these smaller parties will often join with the parties closest to their ideology and form a coalition until they have secured a majority.

Executive Branch
The executive branch of the government carries out the policies created by the parliament. Prime Minister is the head of the branch and has true executive power in the country. The president is a figurehead, but has the important task of selecting the Prime Minister. He generally picks the head of the dominant political party in the parliament, or the head of the dominant political coalition. He is elected from a pool of candidates with voting taking place over several weeks. Every week, those with the fewest votes are eliminated from the pool until 2 are left. If neither of the remaining 2 candidates is able to secure 60% of the vote after 3 weeks, the legislature will decide who becomes president.