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1990 Estonian Supreme Soviet election

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Field	Value
country	Estonian SSR
flag_year	1989
type	legislative
previous_election	1985 Estonian Supreme Soviet election
previous_year	1985
election_date
next_election	1992 Estonian parliamentary election
next_year	1992
seats_for_election	All 105 seats in the Supreme Soviet
majority_seats	53
turnout	78.24%
image_size	130x130px
image1	RK Edgar Savisaar.jpg
leader1	Edgar Savisaar
party1	Popular Front of Estonia
seats1	43
seat_change1	New
image2	Vaino Väljas, endine Eesti NSV ja Eesti Vabariigi poliitik ning Nõukogude Liidu diplomaat 2013.jpg
leader2	Vaino Väljas
party2	Communist–Free Estonia
seats2	25
seat_change2	180
color3	ff0000
image3	3x4.svg
party3	Joint Soviet of Work Collectives
seats3	25
seat_change3	New
title	Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet
before_election	Arnold Rüütel
before_party	EKP
posttitle	Chairman of the Supreme Council after election
after_election	Arnold Rüütel
after_party	EKP

Elections to the Supreme Soviet were held in the Estonian SSR on 18 March 1990. Altogether 392 candidates ran for the Soviet-style legislature's 105 seats, of which four were pre-allocated to the military districts of the Soviet Army. The pro-independence Popular Front won the plurality (43 seats). The coalition of the reformed Estonian communists, who favored independence but close relations with the USSR and were supported by Indrek Toome who was running under the Free Estonia banner, won 27 seats. The anti-independence, pro-Moscow "Joint Soviet of Work Collectives", representing mostly the ethnic Russian immigrant minority in Estonia, won 25 seats. During its first session, the new legislature elected the former Communist Party member Arnold Rüütel as its chairman, allowing him to stay as the nominal leader of Estonia (real powers mostly lay with the prime minister).

The elected parliament made some of the most important decisions in the modern Estonian history, such as the on 30 March 1990 declaration of a period of transition to restore full independence from the Soviet Union, and the 20 August 1991 declaration to confirm the restoration of the country's full independence.

Electoral system

Members of the Supreme Soviet were elected in 42 single-member or multi-member constituencies. In the former constituencies deputies were elected by first-past-the-post vote, while in the latter deputies were elected by single transferable vote.

The local elections three months earlier, in December 1989, were also held under STV, and served as a dress rehearsal with the electoral law finally enacted on 4 December 1989.

The choice of STV was the result of a debate on voting systems led by the influential Estonian political scientist and émigré Rein Taagepera, who penned articles in Edasi in 1988, published Seats and Votes in 1989, and gave conferences on the topic. STV was not, however, Taagepera's own preference, but was rather the result of a consensus driven by Peet Kask between the outgoing Communist local officials, who sought a system that favored their popular names over their unpopular party brand, and the principle of proportional representation favored by the new parties.

Apportionment

The seats allocated were distributed as follows:

Type of district		Number		Total members		Districts	Total		46		105
5-seat districts	3
4-seat districts	5
3-seat districts	13
2-seat districts	6
1-seat districts	15
Soviet Armed Forces	4

Results

References

[[Dieter Nohlen]] & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p574 {{ISBN. 978-3-8329-5609-7
(1996). "Support for an Independent Estonia". International Journal of Sociology.
Payerhin, Marek. (2016-09-02). "Nordic, Central, and Southeastern Europe 2016-2017". Rowman & Littlefield.
[https://www.riigikogu.ee/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Eesti_NSV_Eesti_Vabariigi_Ulemnoukogu_XII_koosseis_29.03.199029.09.19921.pdf Eesti NSV / Eesti Vabariigi Ülemnõukogu XII koosseis. Eesti Rahvusraamatukogu, 29.03.1990–29.09.1992. Tallinn, 2013]
(1999). "Electoral systems change in Estonia, 1989–1993". Journal of Baltic Studies.
"Electoral System Change in Europe since 1945: Estonia". Electoral System Change in Europe Since 1945.
(2008-11-17). "Elections and Referendums in Estonia 1989-1999". Estonian National Electoral Committee.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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