{"id":5366,"date":"2026-06-25T21:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T18:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.riigikogu.ee\/?page_id=5366"},"modified":"2026-08-26T20:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T17:16:11","slug":"3rd-riigikogu","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.riigikogu.ee\/en\/introduction-and-history\/history-riigikogu\/3rd-riigikogu\/","title":{"rendered":"3rd Riigikogu"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The 3rd Riigikogu held the legislative power in Estonia from 15 June 1926 until 14 June 1929. Its members represented ten political parties and electoral alliances. The parties that had the most seats were the Estonian Socialist Workers Party, Farmers’ Assemblies, Settlers, State Tenants and Smallholders Group, and Estonian Labour Party. The most important decisions included the passing of the Statutes of the Bank of Estonia, and the Currency Act that introduced the new Estonian currency \u2013 kroons and cents. The metric system was also introduced in Estonia.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elections<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The elections of the 3rd Riigikogu were held on 15\u201317 May 1926. There were 701,769 eligible voters, 514,595 of whom voted, resulting in a turnout rate of 73.3 %.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The elections were won by the Estonian Socialist Workers Party<\/strong> who received 24 seats (and 22.9 % of the votes). They were followed by the Farmers\u2019 Assemblies<\/strong> with 23 seats (21.4 %), the Settlers, State Tenants and Smallholders Group<\/strong> with 14 seats (13.5 %), and the Estonian Labour Party<\/strong> with 13 seats (12.4 %). Several parties received less votes but were still represented in the Riigikogu: Estonian People\u2019s Party, Estonian Workers\u2019 Party (a Communist offshoot of Estonian Socialist Workers Party), Christian People\u2019s Party, Electoral Alliance of the Russian Community, German-Baltic Party, and Landlords\u2019 Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In his book \u201eEestit tagasivaates\u201c (\u201cEstonia in Retrospect\u201d 1987), Helmut Maandi describes work in the Riigikogu: \u201cDuring the last terms of the parliament, the minimum size of a group was two members. It was set this low so that minority nations would be able to send their representatives to the parliament. There was also a security to be paid to the state in case a party list did not receive the required number of votes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The First Vice-President of the 3rd Riigikogu Mihkel Martna is called the father of social democracy in Estonian.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Karl Einbund<\/strong> was elected the President of the Riigikogu, Mihkel Martna<\/strong> the First Vice-President, and Rudolf Penno<\/strong> the Second Vice-President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of the biggest scandals of our parliament\u2019s history took place on 5 February 1929. Editor-in-Chief of the daily Kaja, MP Artur Tupits, slapped the Minister for Work, Welfare and Education Leopold Johanson in the lobby of the Riigikogu building. His name became a byword for hitting someone.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Legislation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In April 1927, the parliament passed the Statutes of the Bank of Estonia, and the Currency Act that introduced Estonian kroons and cents. The Estonian kroon was adopted on 1 January 1928 and the metric system was introduced exactly one year later. Other major legal acts included the Foreign Loan Act and Riigi Teataja Act (concerning the State Gazette).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helmut Maandi describes the work in the Riigikogu: \u201cSome MPs often organised public meetings. There were those who spent all their evenings off, all the year round, giving public talks in villages or schools. Public meetings were organised more often before the elections, of course.\u201d (\u201eEestit tagasivaates\u201c 1987)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Estonian kroon was adopted by a Resolution of the 3rd Riigikogu on 1 January 1928 and that the metric system was introduced in Estonia exactly one year later.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/
Jaan T\u00f5nisson speaking at the sitting of the Riigikogu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 3rd Riigikogu held the legislative power in Estonia from 15 June 1926 until 14 June 1929. Its members represented ten political parties and electoral alliances. The parties that had the most seats were the Estonian Socialist Workers Party, Farmers\u2019 Assemblies, Settlers, State Tenants and Smallholders Group, and Estonian Labour Party. The most important decisions included the passing of the Statutes of the Bank of Estonia, and the Currency Act that introduced the new Estonian currency \u2013 kroons and cents. The metric system was also introduced in Estonia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"parent":4994,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5366","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n3rd Riigikogu – 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\/history-riigikogu\/3rd-riigikogu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"3rd Riigikogu – Riigikogu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The 3rd Riigikogu held the legislative power in Estonia from 15 June 1926 until 14 June 1929. 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