The 2016 presidential election was unusual in that, after unsuccessful rounds in both the Riigikogu and the Electoral College, the election returned to the Riigikogu.

As with this year's presidential election, when several people were put forward as candidates through public initiatives or put themselves forward, there was also a significant number of such prospective candidates ahead of the 2016 election. Names floated during the presidential race included Ilvi Jõe-Cannon, Kaur Kender, Jaak Jõerüüt and Kristiina Ojuland, among others.

The first round of the presidential election was held in the Riigikogu on August 29. A total of 99 MPs took part in the vote; Center Party MP Rein Ratas was absent for health reasons. Three candidates were nominated: Mailis Reps, Allar Jõks and Eiki Nestor.

Nestor, the joint candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDE) and the Reform Party, received 40 votes; Center Party candidate Reps received 26 votes; and Allar Jõks, the joint candidate of IRL and the Free Party, received 25 votes. As none of the candidates secured the required two-thirds majority of all Riigikogu members — at least 68 votes — no president was elected in the first round and a second round was called.

The second round of the presidential election was held a day later, on August 30. The Social Democrats and Reform Party now nominated Siim Kallas as their candidate. Reps and Jõks ran again. Kallas received 45 votes, Reps 32 and Jõks 21. As a result, no president was elected in the second round either and a third round was held the same day.

Only the names of the two candidates who received the most votes in the second round — Siim Kallas and Mailis Reps — could appear on the ballot in the third Riigikogu round. Kallas received 42 votes and Reps 26. As many as 30 ballots were left blank. As neither candidate secured sufficient support in the third round, the Riigikogu failed to elect a president and the Electoral College was convened.

'It was clear by late May that the Riigikogu rounds would fail'

Eiki Nestor (SDE), then speaker of the Riigikogu and himself a presidential candidate in the first Riigikogu round, said no one was under any illusion that any candidate could secure the necessary support in the Riigikogu.

"It was clear by around the end of May that the election in the Riigikogu would most likely fail," Nestor said.

According to Nestor, the parliamentary groups were unable to agree on a presidential candidate who could attract cross-party support. "Reform Party parliamentary group chair Urve Tiidus said that Reform had two good candidates — which one do you support? At that point, it was clear that nothing would come of it. There wasn't even an attempt to find a candidate who could get 68 votes," Nestor said.

"The first Riigikogu round was essentially a mandatory round. It would have looked extremely bad if there had been no candidates. All three of us had already spent the summer traveling around Estonia, knowing that we weren't going to be elected and we still had to take part in that round," Nestor said.

Two Reform Party candidates

Annika Arras, who worked on Siim Kallas' campaign for the Reform Party, said the party was internally divided at the time and then-Foreign Minister Marina Kaljurand was also seen as a potential presidential candidate. Kaljurand, now a Social Democrat, had been brought into politics by then-Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas.

Polls showed Kaljurand was the most popular candidate among the public. She proposed that Kallas run first in the Riigikogu, but later resigned as foreign minister and was formally nominated as a presidential candidate for the Electoral College with 26 signatures of support.

"It was a somewhat difficult time within the Reform Party. They simply couldn't reach an agreement. It was as though they decided to give both candidates a chance and let the better one win, but at the same time that split the votes. There were teams made up of people from the same party, but backing different candidates. That certainly created a problem," Arras said.

Arras recalled that at the time, the Reform Party had been in power for 17 consecutive years and held all the key positions in the country, which meant other parties did not want Reform to secure the presidency as well. "To get the presidency on top of all that may simply have been too much in the context of the time," Arras said.

Arras also recalled that the campaign began very early. Siim Kallas' candidacy was already public knowledge in early April, five months before the first round of voting in the Riigikogu. Other candidates launched their campaigns fairly soon afterward.

The Electoral College convened for its first round on September 24.

Five candidates were nominated in the first round. Kallas and Reps were placed on the Electoral College ballot based on the results of the third round of voting in the Riigikogu. Marina Kaljurand, Mart Helme and Allar Jõks were also nominated.

In the first round, Allar Jõks received 83 votes, Siim Kallas 81, Mailis Reps 79, Marina Kaljurand 75 and Mart Helme 16. A total of 334 electors received ballots, meaning at least 168 votes were needed to win. All five candidates fell well short of that threshold and a second round of the Electoral College vote was called, with the two candidates who received the most votes in the first round advancing.

Politicians were fairly open about the fact that Center Party Chair Edgar Savisaar had backed Kallas rather than his own party's candidate, Reps, in the first round. Several Center Party members themselves also acknowledged this.

Infighting at Center gives Kallas the edge

At the time, there was fierce rivalry between different camps within the Center Party and Mailis Reps had supported Kadri Simson who ran against Edgar Savisaar at the Center Party congress that same year. Reps had also defeated Savisaar, who had likewise sought to become the party's presidential candidate, in a secret ballot of the party council. The internal power struggle ultimately led to Savisaar's ouster, Jüri Ratas becoming Center Party chair and, in turn, a change in the governing coalition.

Jaak Aab, who worked on Reps' campaign at the time, said Savisaar publicly expressed support for Reps during the campaign but worked against her behind the scenes.

"In the first round of the Electoral College, he [Savisaar] delivered 10 to 15 votes from his loyal supporters to Siim Kallas. It was immediately apparent and widely known because Siim Kallas was the first person to rush from the Electoral College at the Estonia Concert Hall to Center Party headquarters to thank Edgar," Aab said.

According to Aab, Reps would have won the first round had those votes not gone to Kallas.

Aab said Savisaar's actions also meant that Reps' supporters did not subsequently rally behind Siim Kallas, even though Center Party members considered him a worthy candidate. "The political game Edgar played eliminated any chance of a president being elected by the Electoral College," Aab said.

Martin Kukk, who was part of Siim Kallas' campaign team, said he had no factual information indicating that Savisaar had arranged votes for Kallas. "I am, however, convinced that many people from other parties supported Siim Kallas' candidacy simply because they personally liked him as a presidential candidate," Kukk said.

The two candidates who received the most votes in the first round, Allar Jõks and Siim Kallas, advanced to the second round. Kallas received 138 votes and Jõks 134. There were 57 unmarked ballots and three invalid ballots.

As 333 electors received ballots, at least 167 votes were needed to elect a president. Neither Kallas nor Jõks reached that threshold.

Enters Kersti Kaljulaid

After the rounds of voting in both the Riigikogu and the Electoral College failed to produce a president, there was widespread public condemnation of the entire presidential election process. People were angry that those in power had failed to accomplish the task before them. This also put greater pressure on MPs to finally find a candidate who could secure broad cross-party support.

Eiki Nestor said that after the election returned to the Riigikogu, the Riigikogu's Council of Elders met the following Monday to discuss various potential presidential candidates, including some who had been considered previously. Kersti Kaljulaid's name was among them. "It became clear that if anyone had a chance of getting 68 votes in the Riigikogu, it was Kersti Kaljulaid," Nestor said.

"I called her on Monday and invited her to the Riigikogu building on Tuesday to arrange possible meetings. Time was short. At that point, she was the longest-serving Estonian member of the European Court of Auditors and was standing in for the departing head of the court, so she had to return to Luxembourg to carry out her duties there," Nestor said.

Nestor said politicians with government experience knew Kaljulaid well. "She had become very well known across different parties as an active and constructive adviser to Prime Minister Mart Laar. I don't remember anyone saying that their party knew nothing about her. There was no one like that," Nestor said.

Annika Arras likewise said Kaljulaid's previous work as an adviser to Mart Laar had demonstrated her intelligence, resourcefulness and strong character, creating confidence that she understood governance and responsibility and had sufficient substance and determination of her own. "That was probably also why a compromise could be reached at all, because the candidate was strong enough," Arras said.

According to Martin Kukk, the upheaval within the Center Party also helped pave the way for Kersti Kaljulaid's election as president.

"The change of leadership within the Center Party made the party a viable coalition partner. That, in turn, meant that the parties that later formed a government without the Reform Party were also able to agree among themselves on a presidential candidate," Kukk said.

The election resumed in the Riigikogu on October 3, with just one candidate nominated: Kersti Kaljulaid. Kaljulaid received 81 votes for, which remains the highest number of votes ever cast for a presidential candidate in the Riigikogu.

Kaljulaid took the oath of office before the Riigikogu on October 10, 2016. She was 46 at the time, making her the youngest of Estonia's presidents upon taking office.

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