Madise defends Estonia’s presidential election process and crisis leadership

Presidential candidate Ülle Madise told ERR’s “First Studio” that she would be a dutiful and determined leader in a crisis, saying she would not abandon ship while serving as captain. To ease fears of war in society, Madise urged people to contribute to national defence or improve their personal preparedness for crises.

Madise was nominated as a presidential candidate with 75 votes, after the Isamaa party joined her supporters at the last minute. She said she respected the result of a secret ballot and thanked everyone who had supported her nomination.

Madise said her decision to accept the nomination was not a tactical or strategic calculation. As the incumbent Chancellor of Justice, she said she could not have been a presidential candidate for any political party, whether in the opposition or the governing coalition.

“It is absolutely not that. I do not need that, and it is not consistent with my character. I never do anything like that,” Madise said.

Addressing public confusion over an election in which there is only one candidate, Madise said Estonia’s Constitution was designed to allow the Riigikogu, the country’s parliament, to choose a person whom its members could recognise as an impartial mediator, a representative of the Estonian state and someone who articulates the broader goals of Estonian society.

She said it was unrealistic to expect every member of parliament to support the same person in a free and democratic society. Under the Constitution, parliamentary parties can either agree on one or two candidates in advance or put forward their own candidates and proceed to the electoral college. Both options are constitutional, she said.

Madise said changing the method of electing the president would also require changing the president’s powers. She added that she was not certain Estonia’s democracy was currently as mature as Finland’s.

Those who believe a direct election would necessarily produce a more popular president, supported by more than 70 percent of voters by the end of a term, should understand that this is not possible in a free society, Madise said.