President of Estonia - History

History

Estonia didn't have a president from 1918 to 1938. This institution was intentionally left out of the first Estonian constitution, for its authors tried to avoid the concentration of power in one person's hands by all means possible. This eventually led to a creation of an ultra-parliamentary system. The power of the Parliament was practically unlimited and the Government was totally controlled by the Parliament. The functions that are usually vested on a president in parliamentary systems were divided among the speaker of Riigikogu, the State Elder and the Government. Until 1934, the nominal head of state was the State Elder, (riigivanem), who was also head of the government. However, he could not play a balancing role, should there be any conflict between the Parliament and the Government. The State Elder was completely dependent on the Parliament and could be sacked by it at any time. Estonia's constitution was amended in 1933, transforming the country from a parliamentary to a presidential state. The head of state, according to the new constitution, was also called the State Elder. However, this provision never came into effect as a result of Konstantin Päts's coup d'état in 1934. According to the third Constitution of Estonia, the role of the head of state and also a strong executive power was vested upon the President of the Republic. Konstantin Päts became the first person to bear this title. His term was to last for six years, but was cut short as Estonia was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, Päts was dismissed and later arrested.

Within days after the Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1940, the President was pressured into affirming the Andrei Zhdanov appointed puppet government of Johannes Vares, following the arrival of demonstrators accompanied by Red Army troops with armored vehicles to the Presidential palace. Following the sham elections in July, Päts was dismissed from office and Vares assumes presidential responsibilities. Later in July Päts, along with his son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons, was deported to Ufa in Russia.

According to the 1938 constitution, should the position of the President of the republic become vacant or otherwise incapacitated, the president's duties are assumed by the Prime Minister. However, during times of war or incapacitation lasting longer than six months, the constitution provides for the election of an acting President by the Electoral Council. The Electoral Council met in secret on April 20, 1944, and determined that the appointment of Vares as Prime Minister in 1940 was unlawful according to the 1938 constitution. The Council elected Jüri Uluots as acting President of Estonia on April 21. Uluots appointed Otto Tief as Prime Minister. Tief was subsequently arrested by the re-occupying Soviet forces in September.

In September 1944, Uluots and the surviving members of the Tief government escaped to Sweden. The day before Uluots died in January, 1945, a successor August Rei was named to assume the position of acting President. Following Rei's death in 1963, the role passed to Aleksander Warma, then to Tõnis Kint in 1971, then to Heinrich Mark in 1990. Then in 1992 the last acting President of Estonia, Heinrich Mark, handed over his credentials to the newly elected President of the restored republic, Lennart Meri.

After Estonia regained independence, a parliamentary constitution based upon the 1938 law was adopted again. Four elections have taken place (in 1992, 1996, 2001 and 2006), in all of which the parliament failed to choose the President and the election passed to the electoral assembly. Lennart Meri was elected in 1992 (this election, unlike later ones, had a public round) and re-elected in 1996, defeating Arnold Rüütel both times. Rüütel himself became the next President in 2001. In 2006, Toomas Hendrik Ilves won the election.