Later on Thursday, Toomas Kivimägi (Reform) and Arvo Aller (EKRE) were also re-elected as deputy speakers, receiving 55 votes 40 votes respectively.

Hussar ran against opposition candidate Riina Sikkut (SDE), who won 41 votes at the 101-seat chamber.

Hussar's result was enough to be returned after the first secret ballot. There were seven invalid ballots.

The Reform-Eesti 200 coalition has a narrow majority of 52 Riigikogu seats versus the 49 held by opposition and independent MPs.

By party, Reform is by far the largest with 39 seats, followed by 14 for SDE, 13 held by Eesti 200 and 11 for Isamaa; then comes EKRE with 10 seats, and the Center Party with eight. There are six independent MPs.

While the two coalition parties put forward Kivimägi as deputy candidate, the four opposition parties, Isamaa, EKRE, Center and SDE, said ahead of the elections their deputy speaker candidate would be Aller. As noted, both were returned. It is standard for one of the deputy speakers to be from an opposition party.

The speaker and deputy speaker posts are significant for the upcoming presidential elections also, since Estonia's presidents are elected by the Riigikogu. If rounds of voting at the Riigikogu and the regional electoral college prove inconclusive, the Riigikogu's council of elders – consisting of the speaker and their two deputies plus the heads of the factions of each of the represented parties, currently six – have the final say in who will be head of state.

Lauri Hussar, 52, became Riigikogu speaker in April 2023 following the Riigikogu elections the preceding month. He was also Eesti 200 leader at the time. He stepped down from that position late on in the same year, citing a too heavy workload. Kristina Kallas returned as Eesti 200 chair.

Editor's note: This piece was updated to include the election result for the two deputy speakers.

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