National holiday: Independence Day, 24 February (1918); note - 24 February 1918 was the date of independence from Soviet Russia, 20 August 1991 was the date of reindependence from the Soviet Union
Constitution: adopted 28 June 1992
Legal system: based on civil law system; no judicial review of legislative acts
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal for all Estonian citizens
Executive branch: chief of state: President Arnold RUUTEL (since 8 October 2001) head of government: Prime Minister Siim KALLAS (since 28 January 2002) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the prime minister, approved by Parliament election results: Arnold RUUTEL elected president on 21 September 2001 by a 367-member electoral assembly that convened following Parliament's failure in August to elect then-President MERI's successor; on the second ballot of voting, RUUTEL received 188 votes to Parliament Speaker Toomas SAVI's 155; the remaining 24 ballots were either left blank or invalid elections: president elected by Parliament for a five-year term; if he or she does not secure two-thirds of the votes after three rounds of balloting in the Parliament, then an electoral assembly (made up of Parliament plus members of local governments) elects the president, choosing between the two candidates with the largest percentage of votes; election last held 21 September 2001 (next to be held in the fall of 2006); prime minister nominated by the president and approved by Parliament
Legislative branch: unicameral Parliament or Riigikogu (101 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms) election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - Center Party 28, Union of Pro Patria (Fatherland League) 18, Reform Party 18, Moderates 17, Country People's Party (Agrarians) 7, Coalition Party 7, UPPE 6 elections: last held 7 March 1999 (next to be held NA March 2003)
Judicial branch: National Court (chairman appointed by Parliament for life)
Political parties and leaders: Coalition Party [Mart SIIMANN, chairman];
Estonian Center Party or K [Edgar SAVISAAR, chairman]; Estonian Christian
People's Party [Aldo VINKEL]; Estonian Democratic Party [Jean LAAS];
Estonian Independence Party [Vello LEITO]; Estonian People's Union
[Villu REILJAN]; note - includes Estonian Country People's Party and
two small parties; Estonian Reform Party [Siim KALLAS]; Estonian Social
Democratic Labor Party [Tiit TOOMSALU]; Estonian United People's Party or
UPPE [Viktor ANDREJEV]; Estonian Unity Party [Igor PISSAREV]; Moderates
[Andres TARAND]; New Estonia Party [Ulo NUGIS]; Pro Patria Union [Mart
LAAR, chairman]; Republican Party [Kristian-Olari LEPING]; Res Publica
[Rein TAAGEPERA]; Russian Baltic Party [Sergei IVANOV]; Russian Party
in Estonia [Nikolai MASPANOV] note: Country People's Party, formerly
under Estonian Rural People's Union, has probably dissolved
Political pressure groups and leaders: NA
International organization participation: BIS, CBSS, CCC, CE, EAPC,
EBRD, ECE, EU (applicant), FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IFC, IFRCS,
IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO (correspondent),
ITU, OPCW, OSCE, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNTSO, UPU,
WEU (associate partner), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO