Estonia's parliament elects the country's new president
Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise (Ulle Madise) was elected president of Estonia at an extraordinary session of parliament on Wednesday.
She was backed by 71 of the 101 deputies; election required two-thirds of the votes, or the support of at least 68 parliamentarians.
She was elected unopposed under a preliminary agreement among four of the six parliamentary parties.
Madise will replace as head of state Alar Karis, whose five-year term expires in October of this year. Back in June he stated that he would not run for a second term in office.
Madise was born on December 11, 1974, in Estonia. She graduated from the law faculty of the University of Tartu. She taught constitutional law at the University of Tartu and Tallinn University of Technology. Since 2015 she has been chancellor of justice. She is considered an independent, non-partisan figure.
In the media and political circles she is seen as a lawyer who seeks to give an objective legal assessment of what is happening.
