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President of the Republic of Estonia Elections
How the President is Elected?
The President of the Republic shall be elected by the Riigikogu by default. The right to nominate a candidate rests with not less than one-fifth of the membership of Riigikogu. A candidate in favour of whom a two-thirds majority of the membership of the Riigikogu votes shall be considered elected.
If this is not the case, then new candidates shall be nominated and there will be a second round of voting. When no candidate receives the required number of votes, there will be a third round of voting, this time between the two candidates that received the greatest number of votes. A two-thirds majority of votes is required in both rounds to be elected.
When the President of the Republic is still not elected in the third round of voting, an electoral body is convened.
The electoral body consists of the members of the Riigikogu and representatives of the local government councils. Each local government council shall elect at least one representative to the electoral body. In 2021, the electoral body consists of 208 members (including 101 members of the Riigikogu).
For the first round of voting, two candidates that participated in the 3d round of voting at the Riigikogu are automatically presented to the electoral body. Additionally, at least 21 members of an electoral body may nominate a new candidate.
A majority of the voting electoral body members is required in order for a candidate to be elected.
If no candidate is elected in the first round, there will be a second round of voting between the two candidates who received the greatest number of votes in the first round. Again, a majority of the voting electoral body members is required in order for a candidate to be elected.
In case still no candidate gets elected, the whole procedure starts all over again, starting from the Riigikogu.