Kõlvart, who is not a Riigikogu member, said earlier in the week that his party would not be voting in the Riigikogu ballots next Wednesday and Thursday, as there is no alternative candidate to Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise.

"A party chairman cannot forbid any member of the Riigikogu from taking part in a presidential election. At this point, I would recommend that Mihhail Kõlvart read the Constitution," political expert Annika Arras told ERR's "Otse uudistemajast" on Wednesday.

The fact that there is only one candidate registered to run – Madise, who was signed off on by 75 MPs where only 21 are needed – along with the process generally over the summer, has raised questions again about the way in which Estonia elects its president.

The head of state is not directly elected by the people, but by the Riigikogu in the first instance, passing to a regional electoral college if this draws a blank. This system was put in place to avoid undue outside interference in the election of the head of state.

Arras said direct presidential elections would certainly be much more exciting than the current vote at the Riigikogu. "In that case, candidates would have a reason to travel around Estonia, present themselves and talk to the people. There would be considerably more opinion polls than there are today," she said.

Also, the issue of outside interference applies to Riigikogu and local elections too, Arras noted, though these enfranchise all Estonian citizens – plus all EU citizens in the case of local elections. "In reality, there is no really watertight argument as to why [the president] could not be directly elected, but it is a matter for discussion and a question of choices. I would be fine with either option," she went on.

The transparency or culture of the presidential elections is ultimately up to the politicians and their actions, she noted; amending the electoral system would not change that on its own. At the same time, Arras noted, another criticism of the process this time around and at past presidential elections is how last-minute the formal nomination of candidates is, or even their public presentation.

"If we altered it so that candidates got nominated earlier, we asked them questions, held debates right here at the public broadcaster and at other media outlets, then politicians would make their choice and people would have a much better idea of whom parliament is electing," she went on.

As for why Isamaa swung the balance further by getting behind Madise last week, Arras said most likely Madise impressed at her meeting with the party's Riigikogu faction – potential candidate Tiit Land had also met with the party before that – and this convinced Isamaa she would be a good head of state.

Also, it might have been difficult to stem a flood of support for Madise from individual Isamaa MPs and others – as Kõlvart has been trying to do with his party.

"This in turn demonstrates that presidential elections in Estonia are so important to every member of the Riigikogu personally that the classic party discipline often used with different parliamentary votes is not easy to maintain," Arras added.

The Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) simply cracks down on dissenters by expelling them, but this rigid discipline is likely behind their ongoing marginalization, Arras went on, noting that recovery can and does happen too. EKRE put forward party founder Mart Helme as presidential candidate, but lacked enough seats at the Riigikogu to register him on their own.

One further consideration is the March 2027 Riigikogu elections. Arras said the parties that backed Madise will score political points if she does get elected president, particularly the Social Democrats (SDE), who were the first to publicly endorse Madise.

"But I believe that, overall, all those who have now rallied behind Ülle Madise will benefit in any case," she added, noting that the office of president continues to carry a high degree of public trust.

With four of the six Riigikogu parties backing Madise, the presidential elections are unlikely to prove decisive come March, Arras went on. "There are still five or six months to go until the parliamentary election, which means that anything can still happen. The election results have not been decided today."

Recent opinion polls put Madise's rating with the public as high as 43 percent.

Kõlvart: Party still deciding how to act at presidential election

Kõlvart on Wednesday denied that members of the Center Party faction are prohibited from participating in the Riigikogu vote on Madise September 2-3, adding the party has not yet decided how exactly it will vote on that day.

He reiterated that there had been no debate on Land as an alternative candidate.

"We proceed based on the principle that a party should have a consistent and comprehensible policy and position. From the very outset, we have expressed the view that there should be a broader debate, and to do that you need more than one candidate. We have also expressed our support for Tiit Land. There has been no debate; we have only one candidate," Kõlvart told ERR.

This means the party still sees the situation as less than ideal, he went on. "The Riigikogu group will still decide how we express our position. But in our view, the process we are seeing now is not right, and we also do not believe it is right to take part in it."

The true issues cannot be revealed if a candidate runs unopposed, the Center chair continued. "A debate would show that. It is not possible to say on the basis of one meeting. That is why, in our view, there should have been genuine competition and a debate lasting longer than one day, so that not only the Center Party but society as a whole would have a broader understanding of what the vision of one candidate or another actually means."

The current Riigikogu composition does not reflect public support, he added, reiterating his party's support for direct presidential elections. Madise's election as head of state would remain "an appointment" and not an election, he added, noting that Madise's meeting with the Center Party did not prove sufficient to determine her suitability; a proper debate over a longer period would have been needed, he said.

Overall, the past two months has been little more than a "performance," with spectators looking on to see if Madise would run, or not.

At the last presidential election in 2021, Alar Karis ran unopposed and was voted in after the second ballot. Karis announced in mid-summer he would not be seeking re-election, even though he is eligible for a second term.

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