1992 Estonian parliamentary election

Electoral system

Estonia used a combination of IRV (for president) and STV (for legislators) — a system that had been popularized by Rein Taagepera, an expatriate Estonian political scientist at the University of California.

Campaign

Several alliances were formed prior to the elections.

Conduct

Several issues were recorded during the elections; numerous people voted in a booth at the same time while other voters failed to keep their votes secret, causing inconsistencies. Officials also failed to standardize in voting materials and ballot-counting. The existence of a preliminary two-week voting period also led to concerns about ballot security among officials.

The most difficult aspect of the elections was the matter of citizenship and who was eligible to vote. In order to be considered a citizen, people had to prove that they, their parents, or their grandparents were citizens of the pre-World War II Republic of Estonia. This was extremely difficult, as many families had no documentation of their citizenship. Non-citizens had to have lived in Estonia for two years, passed a test, and waited another year in order to be considered for citizenship. This made voting nearly impossible for some individuals. Outside the capital, officials determined who or who was not a citizen in a process that took 10–15 minutes, but in Tallinn, the process was more extensive as the necessary officials were not near the voting booths. This led to embarrassment on behalf of the officials and frustration by the voters, many of whom never cast their vote because of the hassle of proving citizenship.

Despite these issues, the elections were largely conducted smoothly and cooperatively. There were concerns about the Russian minority within Estonia as tensions were high due to new definitions of citizenship, but confrontation was avoided. Ambassadors representing the Russian minority gave statements and held interviews to assure the public that they were open to communication and wished to arrive at a mutually beneficial solution.

Results

Parties like the Popular Front of Estonia and the Estonian National Independence Party had achieved great success during the Singing Revolution and attempted to capitalize on this success during the elections. The well-established parties fared poorly, as they were unable to adapt and appeared conservative compared to new parties such as the Estonian Citizen and Fatherland Bloc. Following the elections, the Popular Front disbanded.

The frivolous Independent Royalist Party of Estonia surprisingly gained eight seats in the new parliament; a satirical party that campaigned under the intention to establish Estonia as a monarchy, they spent one kroon on their election campaign.

Although the Greens and Estonian Entrepreneurs' Party did not cross the electoral threshold, a candidate from each party received enough votes in their constituency to be elected through an individual mandate.

References

References

1. [[Dieter Nohlen]] & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p57 {{ISBN. 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. https://archive.fairvote.org/articles/reilly.pdf [bare URL PDF]
3. [http://www.ifes.org/publications/republic-estonia-assessment-election-riigikogu-and-presidency-september-16-24-1992 Republic of Estonia: An Assessment of the Election to the Riigikogu and the Presidency, September 16-24, 1992] IFES
4. Grofman, Bernard, Evald Mikkel, and Rein Taagepera. "[https://doi.org/10.1080/01629779900000081 Electoral Systems Change in Estonia, 1989–1993]" Journal of Baltic Studies 30, no. 3 (September 1999): 227–49