Commentator praises Estonia's new president as contrast to Latvia's election debates

In a commentary published by Delfi, public relations specialist Kristians Rozenvalds reflects on Estonia's election of a new president while Latvia's Saeima election campaign continues with what he describes as largely uninspiring debates. On Wednesday, September 2, Estonia's parliament, the Riigikogu, which has 101 members, elected the country's outgoing chancellor of justice, Ille Madise, not yet 52 years old, as president. She received 71 votes in a secret ballot.

The author notes that this news received relatively little attention in Latvian media, despite the two countries sharing a similar legacy of Soviet occupation and a significant Russian-speaking population. Still, he argues Estonia has pulled ahead of Latvia not only economically but also in political culture, as illustrated by the process and content of the new president's inaugural address.

Themes of the address

According to the author, Madise's speech did not dwell on Estonia's hardships, enemies, or even Ukraine, focusing instead on the value of every individual and the importance of humor and lightness. He highlights that she spoke of wanting more people to speak Estonian, rather than restricting the use of Russian or other languages, and emphasized trust in people's own ability to decide how to live and run businesses.

The piece also recounts the author's own visit to Narva earlier this summer, where, despite the predominantly Russian-speaking environment, official signage was primarily in Estonian with smaller Russian and English translations, and a hotel television package included Estonia's Russian-language public channel, ETV+.

On security, the author writes that Madise emphasized Estonia's own role as a leader contributing through innovation and international cooperation, rather than relying solely on protection from larger powers. He concludes that the choice of president reflects a level of societal maturity in Estonia.