Saadikutemaja

The **Saadikutemaja** (from *saadi-,* "of the state," and *kutemaja,* "assembly") is the unicameral parliament of Estland. It consists of 105 members who are elected primarily through open-list proportional representation. The Saadikutemaja was first established in the year 1920, following the establishment of the Republic of Estland.

As the nation's legislature, all important state decisions and pieces of legislation must be passed through the Saadikutemaja. In addition to approving legislation, the Saadikutemaja also nominates the prime minister and other high state officials, and elects the president. The Saadikutemaja additionally ratifies foreign treaties, approves state budgets, and monitors the power of the executive.

## Parliamentary mandate

The Saadikutemaja of the Republic of Estland exercises legislative power in Estland. The powers of the Saadikutemaja are defined by the constitution and laws of Estland.

The primary function of the Saadikutemaja is to consider, adopt, and issue laws and amendments to the constitution. The Saadikutemaja also approves the state budget proposed by the government, supervises its implementation, and sets state taxation. In foreign relations, the Saadikutemaja ratifies international treaties. Decisions of the Saadikutemaja are taken in open simple majority votes. In some cases prescribed by law, a secret ballot is held, such as when a motion of no confidence is filed against the government. Constitutional amendments must be passed by three-fifths of the Saadikutemaja, rather than a simple majority vote.

The Saadikutemaja elects both the prime minister and president into office. Prime ministerial elections take place at the conclusion of a parliamentary election, after a governing coalition has been agreed upon. These votes are typically non-controversial, with the government securing a majority in the Saadikutemaja and all legislators in the majority voting to support the coalition's leader as prime minister. Presidential elections are held every five years in a special session of parliament, and presidents must be elected by two-thirds of the Saadikutemaja in order to take office. Presidential candidates are nominated by members of parliament, and must receive a minimum support of ten members of parliament in order to be formally nominated. Presidential elections are held in several elimination rounds, until one candidate receives two-thirds. If parliament cannot elect a president, then an electoral college consisting of members of parliament and local officials is formed instead. The Saadikutemaja may also nominate justices and presidents of the Supreme Court.

Following the election of the prime minister, both the prime minister themselves and their government remain responsible to the Saadikutemaja. The Saadikutemaja must vote to approve the governmental program of a newly formed government before they may take office, and may file a motion of no confidence against the government. If a vote of no confidence passes, the prime minister and their government are removed from office and may ask the president to call a snap election.

The Saadikutemaja also establishes and disestablishes ministries of the government, establishes state awards, can declare martial law and emergencies, start mobilization, and introduce direct local rule on municipalities.

## Elections

### Electoral process

Parliamentary elections in Estland are held every four years, with the specific date for each election being decided by the Saadikutemaja several months prior. It is constitutionally mandated that the Saadikutemaja is dissolved four years after it is opened, between the first day of the preceding month and the last day of the succeeding month.

Snap elections are permitted, and may be requested by the prime minister, but they do not alter the regularly scheduled election calendar. For example, if a snap election is requested one month before a regularly scheduled election, the regularly scheduled election's date will not change, and there will be two elections consecutively.

### Parliamentary constituencies

Members of the Saadikutemaja are elected in five electoral constituencies, roughly corresponding to the administrative divisions of Estland. The five constituencies are Antlamäe County, Jõgeküla County, Mõisama County, Otesalu, Otesalu County (excluding the city of Otesalu), and Saarapuu. Seats are designated to each constituency according to its share of the Estian population. In all constituencies but Saarapuu, members of the Saadikutemaja are elected through open party-list proportional representation. At the start of each electoral session, leaders of each political party create lists of candidates in these four constituencies that they intend to propose to stand in the upcoming election. These lists can have any number of candidates on them as long as they do not exceed the number of seats within a given constituency; some parties have a list of as few as one name, and in cases like this where the party wins more seats than it has names on its list, then the extra seats are awarded to other parties. Most major parties contest elections with a complete list in all constituencies, apart from Saarapuu.

Saarapuu, which has only one seat, uses first-past-the-post voting instead. Each party nominates one candidate to stand in the election, and the candidate with the highest amount of votes, regardless of whether they received a majority, is declared elected.

### Party lists

After a party is awarded its allocated share of seats in a constituency, the candidates on the party's list numbered within a party's seat count are elected to the Saadikutemaja. For example, if a party wins 10 seats, then typically the first ten candidates on the party list are elected. This system typically protects powerful legislators, who are often ranked on the top of their party lists. However, as Estland uses an open list system, voters have the option to slightly alter the party leaders' rankings of candidates by casting an extra vote for a candidate of their choosing on the party list they cast their ballot for. However, this often has a minimal effect on changing the list's ranking unless numerous voters choose the same candidate.

Due to this system, candidates at the top of a party's list are often near-guaranteed a seat in the Saadikutemaja, while candidates at the bottom of a party's list are almost guaranteed to not win a seat. Seats are awarded to parties using the d'Hondt method with a 5% electoral threshold; this means that parties must receive at least 5% of the vote in order to win a seat, and parties who reach this threshold receive an amount of seats that is near-exactly proportional to the percentage of the vote that they received.

### Candidates

In order to be eligible to stand as a candidate in an Estian parliamentary election, candidates must:

* Be at least 18 years old on the date of the election.
* Be a citizen of Estland, through either birth or naturalization.
* Have no significant indebtedness or criminal record that may raise questions of mental aptitude and judgment.

Candidates do not have to reside in the constituency in which they are standing for election, except for candidates standing in Saarapuu. All Saarapuu candidates must reside in Saarapuu, and their elections are conducted entirely in Medish.

### 2020 election result

*Main article: 2020 Estian parliamentary election*

## Parliamentary operations

### Speaker of the Saadikutemaja

The highest-ranking member of the legislature is the speaker of the Saadikutemaja. The speaker represents the legislature and directs its work. Under the legislative procedure, all bills passed by the Saadikutemaja are submitted to the president on behalf of the speaker, and the speaker may sign bills into law that the president does not. The Saadikutemaja is presided over by the speaker in most sessions; in sessions where the speaker is not present, either the first deputy speaker or second deputy speaker will preside. The only session where the speaker is not expected to preside is the first session of a legislative term, where the speaker is elected; these sessions are presided over by the longest-serving member of parliament.

The speaker is elected by and responsible to the other members of the legislature. On the first day of every new legislative term, the speaker is elected by members of parliament with a simple majority vote. Due to this, they typically belong to the party that holds a majority in the legislature, or to the governing coalition. If there is no party with a majority and not yet a governing coalition at the time of the opening of the legislature, then multiple parties may form a temporary majority coalition for the purpose of the election. The promising of electing a speaker from a certain party may also be an aspect of coalition negotiations. A first deputy speaker and second deputy speaker are also elected; by convention, the second deputy speaker typically belongs to the largest opposition party.

The speaker is first in the line of succession to the presidency. If a president resigns, dies, or is removed from the office, the speaker will automatically assume the presidency as the acting president. In cases of the president being abroad or temporarily unable to undertake their duties, the speaker may act on their behalf. However, in both of these cases, the speaker does not hold the full powers of the presidency.

### Legislative procedure

The legislative process begins with the introduction of a bill. In Estland, both members of the Saadikutemaja and members of the government have the right of initiative, meaning they may introduce legislation. Most successful bills are introduced by members of the government, with the success rates of bills introduced by members of parliament being much lower. After the bill's initial submission to the Secretariat of the Saadikutemaja, it is referred to parliament's legal department, which determines whether it complies with constitutional conventions, existing laws, and the conventions of lawmaking.

If approved by the legal department, it is then submitted to the speaker for review, who then refers the bill to one of parliament's standing committees according to the political topic that the bill falls into. For example, a bill introducing new environmental regulations will be referred to the Standing Committee on Energy and Environment. The bill will go through intense scrutiny by the committee, and any relevant amendments may be added. During this period of scrutiny, committees may ask for testimony from experts in fields related to the bill, and undertake investigations. Following this period of scrutiny, the committee will vote on whether to move the bill to the parliament floor for a vote of the entire membership. If this vote fails, the bill is declared dead.

If the committee vote passes, then the bill advances to the parliament floor for debate. Debate must be held at least two days after the bill is voted out of committee. Following the conclusion of debate, which is determined by the speaker and can last a number of days, parliament votes on whether the bill should be passed. If the vote fails, the bill is dead; if it passes, the bill is sent to the president for signature. The president has no veto power in Estland, and must sign all passed legislation. If a president does not sign a bill after a period of one month, then the bill can go into effect with the signature of the speaker. Presidents occasionally opt for this to show their displeasure with a bill's passage, although their refusal to sign it has no effect on its implementation.

### Parliamentary sessions

The Saadikutemaja meets annually in two regular sessions: a spring session (March until June) and an autumn session (September until December). Most legislating occurs during these two sessions. The spring session begins on the first Monday of March and concludes on the the last Friday of June, while the autumn session begins on the first Monday of September, and condludes on the last Friday before Christmas Eve. Special sessions may be called by the speaker or the president. Special sessions normally revolve around a specific purpose, such as swearing in new members, electing the speaker, nominating the government, electing the president, or focusing on an emergency political issue.

When the Saadikutemaja is in session, there are four plenary sittings per week: two on Tuesday and two on Thursday, presided over by the speaker or a deputy speaker. All sittings of the Saadikutemaja are open to the public for viewing, although members of the public are not allowed on the parliament floor. Audience members may sit in a balcony section above the parliament floor for viewing. Sittings are also broadcast on television and streamed via the Internet.

### Presidium

The presidium of the Saadikutemaja is the senior leadership of the legislature. The presidium consists of the speaker, both deputy speakers, and all parliamentary party leaders. The presidium has weekly meetings, where they discuss the pipeline of legislation, and also formulate agendas for each sitting of parliament.

### Parliamentary committees

At the start of a new legislative term, the speaker assigns members of parliament to its parliamentary standing committees. Each standing committee focuses on a different political issue, and is tasked with scrutinizing pieces of legislation dealing with that issue. Standing committees additionally correspond with one or more government ministers, and conduct parliamentary oversight over those ministers and their offices. The party composition of standing committees corresponds with the party composition in parliament. Each standing committee then elects a chair and a vice-chair; chairs typically come from the governing coalition, while vice-chairs typically come from the opposition.

The speaker can also create special committees at their own discretion. Unlike standing committees, special committees are temporary and exist at the discretion of the speaker. They typically serve focus on a niche issue that could be soon be solved, such as a special committee to conduct an investigation of another member of parliament for wrongdoing.

### Party groups

Parliamentary parties are represented by a group, which then elects a parliamentary leader to represent the party group in parliamentary leadership and in the parliament's presidium. Typically, party's elect their party leader to serve as parliamentary leader; however, members of the government are barred from serving as parliamentary party leaders, so a different member of the party is elected instead in this case.

In order to be considered a party group, a party must have at least five elected members serving in parliament. If a party has less than five elected members, they are not considered a party group, even if they are formally registered with a party, and officially sit as independents. The independent members then elect their own parliamentary leader. The exception to this rule are all Saarapuu parties, which hold special status as Saarapuu holds only one seat in parliament.

 Reform Party | 21
 Center Party | 12
 Sarhamm National Party | 1

## Members

The Saadikutemaja has a membership of 105 members, which is a constitutionally mandated amount that cannot change. In Estian, members of the Saadikutemaja are referred to as *saadikutemanumesed* ("state assembly people"). Members of parliament are compensated with $105,000 annually, and also receive a lifelong pension after leaving office. Members of the Saadikutemaja possess legal immunity, and they may not be arrested or detained without the approval of the Saadikutemaja in a simple majority vote.

If an elected member of the Saadikutemaja can no longer serve in the position, they are temporarily or permanently replaced by a deputy, so no seats are ever empty and special elections do not exist. Deputies are not elected, but are appointed by a party's central authority when there is a need. As they are unelected, they wield limited powers, such as being unable to serve on committees. If an independent member of the Saadikutemaja needs to be replaced by a deputy, their deputy is chosen by the other independent members; if there are no other independent members, their deputy is chosen by the speaker, and must also be an independent deputy. Deputies are most often utilized when a member of the Saadikutemaja is appointed to the government as a cabinet minister. The Estian constitution allows individuals to serve concurrently as ministers and legislators, but does not allow ministers to participate in the legislative process, so they continue to hold their seats *de jure* but are replaced by deputies for legislative duties.

### Lists of members

* List of members of the Saadikutemaja, 2020–2024