1992 Estonian presidential election
← 1938 20 September 1992 (public vote)
5 October 1992 (parliamentary vote)		 1996 →
Turnout67.95%
 
Nominee Lennart Meri Arnold Rüütel
Electoral vote 59 31
Popular vote 138,317 195,743
Percentage 28.94% 42.23%
Results by county, voters abroad, Tallinn and Tartu[1]
President before election

Heinrich Mark

 Elected President

Lennart Meri
Pro Patria Union

Presidential elections were held in Estonia on 20 September 1992, alongside parliamentary elections.[2] As no candidate received over 50% of the vote, a second round was held in Parliament on 5 October 1992, in which Lennart Meri was elected. Voter turnout in the public vote was 68%.

This was the only time to date that an Estonian presidential election included a public vote. Planned direct elections for the head of state in 1934 were cancelled due to a coup, and after 1992 presidential elections reverted to being carried out in the Electoral College or in Parliament,[3] as had been the case in 1938.

Campaign

Out of the seven candidates that announced their intention to run for the presidency, only four - Arnold Rüütel, Lennart Meri, Rein Taagepera and Lagle Parek managed to get enough signatures to set up their candidacy.[4]

Third-place candidate Rein Taagepera later wrote that his candidacy was motivated by two things - he considered himself the only candidate with experience in democratic politics, having lived in exile dring the Soviet occupation, and he feared that Rüütel would want to strengthen the role of the presidency, making him unfit to oversee a parliamentary democracy.[5][6]

During the campaign, a controversy arose involving Ando Leps, associated with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, allegedly planning a damaging letter against Lennart Meri, accusing his father of collaboration with the NKVD and KGB. As a pre-emptive response, Meri's team strategically placed a letter in the paper Liivimaa Kroonik that would redirect the narrative to implicate Meri's father in collaboration with multiple intelligence agencies, mitigating the impact of Leps' subsequent accusations which surfaced a few days later.[7]

Politics of Estonia
State
Presidency
Executive
Legislature
Judiciary
Elections
Administrative divisions
Foreign relations

Results

CandidatePublic voteParliamentary vote
Votes%Votes%
Arnold Rüütel195,74342.233134.44
Lennart Meri138,31729.845965.56
Rein Taagepera109,63123.6500.00
Lagle Parek19,8374.2800.00
Total463,528100.0090100.00
Valid votes463,52898.929089.11
Invalid/blank votes5,0771.081110.89
Total votes468,605100.00101100.00
Registered voters/turnout689,60867.95101100.00
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Results by territorial commission

Territorial
commission 		Meri Rüütel Parek Taagepera Turnout
Harjumaa 26.1% 44.9% 3.6% 24.7% 68.1%
Hiiumaa 17.4% 53.9% 3.0% 24.5% 67.1%
Ida-Virumaa 16.8% 54.9% 2.4% 25.2% 72.4%
Jõgevamaa 25.6% 47.9% 3.5% 21.8% 61.6%
Järvamaa 25.5% 47.1% 2.5% 24.0% 65.0%
Lääne-Virumaa 18.9% 50.2% 2.4% 27.8% 62.8%
Läänemaa 28.0% 49.1% 2.7% 19.3% 64.9%
Põlvamaa 27.5% 37.5% 3.9% 29.8% 62.6%
Pärnumaa 20.3% 47.7% 3.9% 27.4% 69.1%
Raplamaa 23.1% 48.0% 4.1% 24.0% 64.5%
Saaremaa 20.4% 57.9% 2.6% 18.2% 64.6%
Tartumaa 35.4% 41.2% 4.1% 18.2% 67.0%
Valgamaa 25.8% 45.8% 4.8% 22.4% 68.6%
Viljandimaa 24.8% 44.9% 3.0% 26.3% 63.7%
Võrumaa 27.0% 38.3% 6.1% 27.2% 67.8%
Kohtla-Järve 14.2% 50.4% 2.3% 31.6% 70.4%
Narva 10.7% 37.2% 7.9% 42.0% 67.6%
Pärnu 28.8% 37.5% 3.3% 29.5% 68.7%
Sillamäe 10.8% 50.1% 5.6% 32.6% 83.4%
Tallinn 33.8% 37.8% 4.8% 22.6% 71.8%
Tartu 49.8% 27.8% 3.9% 17.1% 65.8%
Overseas 63.6% 11.6% 19.9% 4.4% 99.9%
Total 29.5% 41.8% 4.2% 23.4% 68.0%
Source: National Electoral Committee[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Vabariigi presidendi ja riigikogu valimised 1992: dokumente ja materjale (in Estonian). Tallinn: Eesti Vabariigi Valimiskomisjon. 1992. pp. 116–125.
  2. ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p574 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  3. ^ "President of the Republic of Estonia Elections - Past elections - Estonian National Electoral Committee". www.vvk.ee. Retrieved 2021-03-13.
  4. ^ "Eesti presidendivalimised: 5 valimist, 14 kandidaati, 17 valimisvooru, 3 presidenti". www.ohtuleht.ee (in Estonian). Retrieved 2024-01-18.
  5. ^ "AJALUGU ⟩ Rein Taagepera: Lennart Meri ei teinud presidendina suuri vigu". Arvamus (in Estonian). 2022-10-01. Retrieved 2024-01-18.
  6. ^ Taagepera, Rein (1993). "Running for President of Estonia: A Political Scientist in Politics". PS: Political Science and Politics. 26 (2): 302–304. doi:10.2307/419848. ISSN 1049-0965.
  7. ^ "20. august – mitte ainult taasiseseisvumispäev. Algas vaba Eesti esimene presidendiralli". Eesti Päevaleht (in Estonian). Retrieved 2024-01-18.


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