Estonia elects Ülle Madise president in uncontested first round

ERR’s weekly programme AK. Nädal examined Estonia’s presidential election process after the Riigikogu, the country’s parliament, elected Ülle Madise as the republic’s seventh president in the first round this week.

Madise will take office in five weeks. Although she secured the required votes immediately, the nomination of only one candidate and the lack of a public debate prompted criticism and raised questions about the transparency of the process and whether the public should be more involved.

The 2026 election was an unusual case in which the only candidate nominated in the Riigikogu was elected president in the first round.

“I have understood from various statistics and survey results that people do not understand the current procedure for electing the president. It seems opaque to them, and this has created a considerable amount of frustration,” said Jüri Raidla, a legal scholar and chairman of the expert committee of the Constitutional Assembly.

Public administration expert Külli Taro said that every election had involved extensive discussion about the candidates.

“There has been confusion, and attempts have been made to create confusion, but each time the task has nevertheless been accomplished. This time, too, the Riigikogu did an excellent job,” Taro said.

The search for a president began at the start of the year, when incumbent Alar Karis had not yet given a clear indication of whether he would seek to continue in office. Although Karis is popular among the public, the political parties were not united in their support for him, causing the process to stall for an extended period.

“There was relative silence in the spring partly because many politicians did not know what Alar Karis would do. His decision to run would have been a major game changer,” said political scientist and journalist Erik Moora.

Madise, who was elected president, had said she would not want to run against Karis if he sought to continue in office.

The situation became clearer on Victory Day, when Karis said in a speech marking the occasion: “As head of state, I wish you a happy Victory Day for the last time.”

The parties then had reason to resume discussions, but they still failed to agree on a joint candidate. The Social Democrats proposed Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise, who could not put herself forward for president because of the impartiality required by her office.

EKRE’s proposed candidate, Mart Helme, did not receive support from the other parties. Several other prominent public figures also expressed interest in running, including Maive Rute, Indrek Laul, Hannes Hanso and Tiit Land.

“In Estonia, the president must be elected on the basis of an agreement across party lines. That can happen only if the parties gradually coordinate and sound each other out about which candidate their members might be willing to support,” Moora said.

As the deadline for submitting candidates approached, Isamaa and the Centre Party considered nominating rector Tiit Land. Ultimately, only the Centre Party supported him, arguing that the country needed several candidates and that society needed a substantive debate.

“I believe that public debate is extremely important, and it is what keeps us on track. But public debate is taking place all the time. It consists of our daily conversations, opinion articles and statements,” Moora said.

He said he did not attach great importance to staged debates between candidates, in which they are lined up and asked prearranged questions, because such events mainly show whether people are good at that format rather than whether they would make good presidents.

That debate did not take place.