Europe

Recent Political Developments

Parliamentary elections on 4 March 2007 resulted in the Reform Party and the Centre Party emerging with the most seats. The number of seats in the 101-member Riigikogu (Parliament) were:

Ansip has been Prime Minister since April 2005. Prior to that he had been the Economics Minister in Juhan Parts' coalition government and before that he served for 6 years as the Mayor of Tartu. Urmas Paet, was re-appointed as Foreign Minister, having also served in the same post since April 2005. The former governing party, Res Publica merged with Pro Patria in May 2006 to form a new party, the Res Publica and Pro Patria Union.

In June 2004, Estonia held its first ever election to the European Parliament. A record low turnout for an election, only 27% of the electorate, saw the Social Democrats win 3 seats and the Centre Party, Pro Patria and Reform Party win 1 each.

The Estonian President is elected by Parliament and may serve up to 2 5-year terms. Presidential elections on 23 September 2006 saw Social Democrat MEP and former Foreign Minister, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, elected as the new President. He took office on 9 October 2006. Prior to that Arnold Rüütel was President from 2001-2006 and Lennart Meri was in office from 1992-2001.

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