{"id":257841,"date":"2026-09-02T11:56:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T08:56:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.riigikogu.ee\/pressiteated\/ulle-madise-was-elected-the-president-of-the-republic\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T11:56:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T08:56:53","slug":"ulle-madise-was-elected-the-president-of-the-republic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.riigikogu.ee\/en\/pressiteated\/ulle-madise-was-elected-the-president-of-the-republic\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00dclle Madise was elected the President of the Republic"},"content":{"rendered":"

To be elected, the candidate for the President needed a two-thirds majority of the Riigikogu, i.e. the support of at least 68 members of the Riigikogu.<\/p>\n

78 members of the Riigikogu participated in the vote. Seven ballot papers were left unmarked.<\/p>\n

\u00dclle Madise was nominated as a candidate by 75 members of the Riigikogu.<\/p>\n

The elected President of the Republic \u00dclle Madise expressed her gratitude for the support and trust. \u201cI will do my best to deserve this trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the beginning of the sitting, the candidate \u00dclle Madise delivered a speech where she emphasised the need for much more trust in general. \u201cAll of us in our lives. We should not want someone up there to tell us how to live, think, or feel. This is not how it is and it is also impossible for the state to know the best how to live and breathe, how to take action. The experts on taking action are those who take action,\u201d Madise said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEstonia is the frontline of the security of the whole Europe, the whole free West. This line stands because our forebears had the wisdom to restore independence, accelerate to catch up with the free world, create a corruption free and safe country. They had the vision and the smarts to steer Estonia towards the European Union and NATO\u2014not just to twiddle our thumbs there, but to build a common future together,\u201d Madise stressed.<\/p>\n

\u00dclle Madise concluded her speech by saying \u201cI look at and listen to our police officers and serviceman, diplomats and statesmen with sincere gratitude and civic pride. Thank you! I feel respect and awe, I feel responsibility for our people, I feel responsibility for Estonia. I am sure that together we can make Estonia bigger, happier, and stronger. I am ready to carry the responsibility of the head of state, because you, honourable members of the Riigikogu, have trusted me with this. Thank you.\u201c<\/p>\n

The sitting of the Riigikogu started with a minute of silence in memory of the recently departed long-term members of the Riigikogu Siim Kallas<\/strong> and Priit Aimla<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Photos<\/em><\/a>: (Author: Erik Peinar, Chancellery of the Riigikogu)<\/em><\/p>\n

Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Video recordings of the sittings of the Riigikogu can be viewed at <\/em>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/riigikogu<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

(Please note that the recording will be uploaded with a delay.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At its extraordinary session today, the Riigikogu elected \u00dclle Madise as the President of the Republic. 71 members of the Riigikogu supported her at the secret ballot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":257866,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,55],"tags":[],"news_related_unit":[164],"news_expired_unit":[],"class_list":["post-257841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases","category-session-reviews","news_related_unit-plenary-assembly"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u00dclle Madise was elected the President of the Republic – Riigikogu<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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