Estonia’s Chancellor of Justice, Ülle Madise, has officially confirmed that she is running for president, ERR reports. She said that the president’s duty was to safeguard Estonia’s “people, language, culture, nature, freedom, and peace,” stressing the importance of clean nature, of culture and atmosphere, of freedom and responsibility, and of a “caring and developing state.” Moreover, the president’s role was to open doors and build bridges, she said. Following her announcement, Madise met with members of the Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, to discuss her candidacy, ERR reported. Meanwhile, Tiit Land, rector of Tallinn University of Technology, said that he would stay in the race to become president, characterising Madise as a “strong competitor,” ERR reported. Land highlighted his work on education, science, and technology.
Political scientist Tõnis Leht of the Liberal Citizen Foundation (SALK) noted that Madise’s candidacy was currently supported by the governing coalition’s Estonian Reform Party and Estonia 200 as well as the opposition Social Democratic Party, ERR reported. However, Madise would find it difficult to get elected in parliament without support from either Fatherland or the Estonian Centre Party, Leht pointed out. He suggested that Fatherland and the Centre Party would have a better chance of getting their candidate elected in the electoral college instead. At the same time, Madise was quite popular among Fatherland voters, and she was very likely to see the contest to the very end, Leht added. In the meantime, Madise has contracted Estonian consulting company Tuum Consulting to advise her on the presidential campaign, ERR reports.