Yulle Madise Takes Office as President of Estonia

The new President of Estonia, Yulle Madise, was sworn in before the country’s parliament, after which she officially took office. She succeeded Estonian President Alar Karis, who served one five-year term and declined in June to run for a second.

Madise became Estonia’s seventh president and the second woman to hold the post. The head of state was elected on September 2 at an extraordinary parliamentary session without any alternative candidates, already in the first round of voting.

71 out of 101 lawmakers voted for her candidacy, with at least 68 votes required. After being elected, Madise delivered her first presidential speech and said that society needs “significantly more trust and warm recognition”.

She said that “the attempts made over the past decades to re-educate the population, to prescribe to people how to live, think, feel, or speak properly, have produced the exact opposite result”. “Everyone has learned the lesson. Now it is time to restore trust”, the head of state added.

The President of Estonia is elected by parliament for a five-year term. Under the 1992 Constitution, Estonia is a parliamentary republic, so the powers of the head of state are significantly limited and are mainly reduced to representative and formal functions.

Sources

• Interfax