{"id":5048,"date":"2026-04-29T15:34:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T12:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.riigikogu.ee\/?page_id=5048"},"modified":"2026-09-10T15:19:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T12:19:45","slug":"what-is-riigikogu","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.riigikogu.ee\/en\/introduction-and-history\/introduction\/what-is-riigikogu\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Riigikogu?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-is-riigikogu\">What is Riigikogu?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Riigikogu is the representative body of the nation; its members are elected by the people for four years. The Riigikogu has 101 members who make decisions which have the widest impact on the life of the nation. These include forming and supporting the national government making, amending and complementing legal acts and passing the state budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.riigiteataja.ee\/en\/eli\/530102013003\/consolide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Constitution<\/a>, which has been in effect since 1992, Estonia is an independent and sovereign democratic republic where the supreme power of state is vested in the people. Democratic states are governed by the principle of the separation of powers. This means that the legislative, executive and judicial powers balance each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under \u00a7 59 of the Constitution, the Riigikogu holds the legislative power, which means that the Riigikogu adopts legal acts. The <a href=\"https:\/\/valitsus.ee\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">government<\/a> has executive power, e.g. the government is responsible for the implementation of legal acts. Justice is administered by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kohus.ee\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">courts<\/a>. Since Estonia is a parliamentary republic, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.president.ee\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">President<\/a> has a predominantly representative function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Riigikogu passes the state budget which determines the revenues and expenditures for the following year; this affects the development of all spheres of life. The Riigikogu also approves the report on the implementation of the state budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-style-info is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Already before the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.riigikogu.ee\/en\/introduction-and-history\/history-of-the-riigikogu\/1st-riigikogu\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"5374\">first Riigikogu<\/a>, which was elected and convened in 1920, there had been representative bodies in Estonia with the right to initiate legal acts. The first of these, a representative body similar to a parliament, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.riigikogu.ee\/en\/introduction-and-history\/history-of-the-riigikogu\/estonian-provisional-land-council-or-maapaev\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"5383\"><em>maap\u00e4ev<\/em>&nbsp;or the Provisional Assembly of Estonia,<\/a> convened in 1917, and the second, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.riigikogu.ee\/en\/introduction-and-history\/history-of-the-riigikogu\/constituent-assembly\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"5379\">Constituent Assembly<\/a>, was elected in 1919.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How is the Riigikogu elected?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All Estonian citizens over 18 years of age with an active legal capacity have the active right to vote. The passive right to vote, i.e. the right to be elected, is held by all Estonian citizens over 21 years of age with an active right to vote. The Riigikogu is elected for a term of four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The election and the stability of the nation\u2019s government depends on the Riigikogu. If no political party gains 51 seats in the Riigikogu, parliamentary groups will unite in a coalition to form the government. The remaining parliamentary groups of the Riigikogu will form the opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How large is the Riigikogu?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Riigikogu has 101 members which is approximately the cube root of the number of people in Estonia with the right to vote. The mandate of a Member of the Riigikogu commences on the day of the announcement of the election results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How large are the parliaments of our neighbours?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.riigikogu.ee\/en\/parliament-of-estonia\/members-of-the-riigikogu\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"5920\">The Riigikogu of Estonia<\/a> \u2013 101 members<br><a href=\"http:\/\/www.saeima.lv\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Saeima of Latvia<\/a> \u2013 100 members<br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lrs.lt\/sip\/portal.show?p_r=35299&amp;p_k=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Seimas of Lithuania<\/a> \u2013 141 members<br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eduskunta.fi\/FI\/kansanedustajat\/Sivut\/default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Eduskunta of Finland<\/a> \u2013 200 members<br><a href=\"http:\/\/www.riksdagen.se\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Riksdag of Sweden<\/a> \u2013 349 members<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Read more<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-link\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.riigiteataja.ee\/en\/akt\/530102013003\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Constitution<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-link\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/valitsus.ee\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Government<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-link\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/president.ee\/et\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">President <\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-link\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kohus.ee\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Estonian Courts<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-link\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.valimised.ee\/?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Elections in Estonia <\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Riigikogu is the representative body of the nation; its members are elected by the people for four years. The Riigikogu has 101 members who make decisions which have the widest impact on the life of the nation. These include forming and supporting the national government making, amending and complementing legal acts and passing the state budget.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":251336,"parent":5021,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5048","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What is Riigikogu? &#8211; Riigikogu<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.riigikogu.ee\/en\/introduction-and-history\/introduction\/what-is-riigikogu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is Riigikogu? &#8211; Riigikogu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Riigikogu is the representative body of the nation; its members are elected by the people for four years. 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