The Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, has elected Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise as the country’s next president for a five-year term, ERR reports. Madise received 71 votes in the first round of voting in the 101-member parliament. She was the only candidate. MPs of the opposition Estonian Centre Party and Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE) abstained in the vote in parliament, ERR reported.
Madise will be Estonia’s second female president and will assume office on 12 October 2026. Prior to being appointed Chancellor of Justice in 2015, she served as legal adviser to then president Toomas Hendrik Ilves in 2009-2015 and member of the Estonian National Electoral Committee in 2006-2010. Madise is married to Lauri Madise, who serves as judge on the General Court of the European Court of Justice.
EKRE held a protest outside parliament, demanding direct presidential elections, ERR reported. EKRE asserted that the current election procedure was a “backroom agreement” between parties. Earlier, Estonia’s Supreme Court rejected a complaint from EKRE MPs, who had insisted that Madise should have resigned as justice chancellor before being officially nominated as presidential candidate, ERR reported.
Meanwhile, Estonia’s new ambassador to the US, Hannes Hanso, who had expressed his readiness to run for president, stated that the presidential election process was tantamount to “shadow theatre” and “not befitting a 21st-century liberal democracy,” ERR reported. He argued that presidential candidates should be known at least six months in advance so as to allow for proper public debate and discussion.