Legislative branch: unicameral Parliament or Riigikogu (101 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections : last held 5 March 1995 (next to be held NA 1999) election results: percent of vote by party - KMU 32.22%, RE 16.18%, K 14.17%, Pro Patria and ERSP 7.85%, M 5.98%, Our Home is Estonia and Right-Wingers 5.0%; seats by party - KMU 41, RE 19, K 16, Pro Patria 8, Our Home is Estonia 6, M 6, Right-Wingers 5
Judicial branch: National Court
Political parties and leaders: Coalition Party and Rural Union or KMU
[Tiit VAHI, chairman] made up of 4 parties: Coalition Party, Country
People's Party/Farmer's Assembly, Rural Union, and Pensioners' and
Families' League; Reform Party-Liberals or RE [Siim KALLAS, chairman];
Center Party or K [Edgar SAVISAAR, chairman]; Union of Pro Patria or
Fatherland League (Isamaa) [Toivo JURGENSON, chairman]; National
Independence Party or ERSP [Kelam TUNNE, chairman]; Our Home is
Estonia made up of 2 parties: United Peoples Party and the Russian
People's Party of Estonia; United Peoples Party [Viktor ANDREJEV,
chairman]; Russian Party of Estonia [Nikolai MASPANOV, chairman];
Moderates or M made up of 2 parties: Social Democratic Party and Rural
Center Party; Social Democratic Party [Eiki NESTOR, chairman]; Rural
Center Party [Vambo KAAL, chairman]; Right-Wingers [Ulo NUGIS,
chairman]; Republican Conservative [Vootele HANSEN];
Development/Progressive Party [Andra VEIDEMANN, chairwoman], note -
party was created by defectors from Center Party in late spring 1996,
now holds 6 or 7 seats in Parliament
International organization participation: BIS, CBSS, CCC, CE, EBRD,
ECE, EU (applicant), FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IFC, IFRCS,
IHO (pending member), ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, ISO
(correspondent), ITU, NACC, OSCE, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNMIBH,
UPU, WEU (associate partner), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO (applicant)
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission : Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Lauri LEPIK chancery: 2131 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 588-0101 FAX: [1] (202) 588-0108 consulate(s) general: New York
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission : Ambassador Lawrence P. TAYLOR embassy: Kentmanni 20, Tallinn EE 0001 mailing address: American Embassy, Tallinn; PSC 78, Box T; APO AE 09723 telephone: [372] (6) 312-021 FAX: [372] (6) 312-025
Flag description: pre-1940 flag restored by Supreme Soviet in May 1990 - three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), black, and white
Economy
Economy - overview: Estonia continues to experience strong economic growth after its economy bottomed out in 1993. Bolstered by a widespread national desire to reintegrate into Western Europe, Estonia has adhered to disciplined fiscal and financial policies and has led the FSU countries in pursuing economic reform. Monthly inflation has been held to 2% in 1995-96. Following four years of decline, Estonia's GDP grew at 3% in 1995 and 1996. Despite these positive economic indicators, the current account deficit is widening. The resident IMF representative in Estonia has been worried since early 1996 about a rising public sector deficit boosted by local government spending. Small- and medium-scale privatization is essentially complete, and large-scale privatization is progressing gradually. In 1996, Estonia's national airline was privatized; in 1997 Estonia plans to privatize large infrastructure, i.e., Eesti Energia, Tallinn Port, Estonian Telecom, and Oil Shale. Estonia has successfully reoriented its trade toward the West, two-thirds of exports now going to Western markets. Estonia's free trade policies were the cornerstone of its negotiations with the European Union, and led to the signing of an association agreement in June 1995. Estonia was the only Baltic state not to have a transition period imposed by the EU prior to its implementation of a free trade agreement.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $8.1 billion (1996 estimate as extrapolated from World Bank estimate for 1994)