Content creator: Young people want a capable, approachable president

Young people expect the next Estonian president to combine expertise with warmth and openness, content creator Maria Rannaväli said on ERR’s morning television programme Terevisioon.

Rannaväli said the summer presidential election period and the names being discussed had also attracted interest among people her age. Although young people cannot take part in the election, they follow which candidates are being considered and what kind of people they appear to be, she said.

She added that young people had discussed Ülle Madise, the Chancellor of Justice, when she became a specific favourite. They considered whether Madise was suitable for the presidency and what she was like as a person.

“I would not underestimate young people’s understanding that the president must represent us in the wider world,” Rannaväli said, adding that they also consider whether potential candidates are competent and understand foreign policy.

She said young people’s expectations of the president did not differ greatly from those of society as a whole. They were not necessarily looking for a president who wore sports clothes and greeted everyone casually, she said, but expected competence and dignity to be accompanied by openness and warmth.

“Young people expect you to be a real person,” Rannaväli said.

Rannaväli said she had the impression that many young people knew about the Chancellor of Justice as an office but had not previously known who held the position. Madise was therefore largely unfamiliar to them, she said, but her name and face had since become much better known.