Ille Madise takes office as President of Estonia
Ille Madise, elected by Estonia's parliament, the Riigikogu, took the oath of office on Monday and became head of state. Her first foreign visit as president is planned for Latvia on 13 October.
Ille Madise took the oath of office before the Riigikogu, Estonia's parliament, on Monday and formally became the country's president, according to Estonian public broadcaster err.ee. She succeeds President Alar Karis, and her first foreign trip in office is scheduled to take her to Latvia the following day.
The path to the presidency
At 14:15, the president-elect arrived with her husband at the Kadriorg presidential residence, where President Alar Karis and his wife Sirje Karis welcomed them. The two couples then travelled together to Toompea hill.
In a secret ballot, the Riigikogu elected Madise with 71 votes. She had been nominated as a candidate by 75 members of parliament. Representatives of the Reform Party, Estonia 200, Isamaa and the Social Democrats, along with MPs who belong to no parliamentary group, submitted the paperwork to the National Electoral Committee.
Who the new president is
Madise is 51, was born and educated in Tartu, and is a lawyer by training. She has worked at the Ministry of Justice and the Riigikogu's Constitutional Committee, served as Auditor General and as legal adviser to the president. She has been Chancellor of Justice since 2015 and was re-elected to a second term in late 2021.
Her husband, Lauri Madise, is a judge at the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg. The couple have no children. Her father, Tenu Anton, is a former politician and Supreme Court judge.
Visit to Latvia
Mārtiņš Drēģeris, adviser to the Latvian president, said that on 13 October President Edgars Rinkēvičs will host the new Estonian president at Riga Castle on a working visit. It will be her first foreign visit in the post.
The talks are expected to cover strengthening bilateral ties, especially cooperation in the economy and between defence industries. Also on the agenda are wider Baltic and regional cooperation on security and defence, including reinforcing NATO's eastern flank and countering hybrid threats, as well as military, political and economic support for Ukraine in its struggle against Russian aggression. Madise is also due to meet Saeima Speaker Daiga Mieriņa and Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs.
