Stargazer for President

Estonian MPs will start with a female astronomer

Today the Estonian parliament will hold presidential elections. The day before, the ruling Reform Party, as well as the opposition Social Democratic Party, Fatherland Union and Republic nominated a single candidate. This is 62-year-old Deputy Speaker Ene Ergma (pictured) . If she does not receive the necessary support in the first round, then in the second round the deputies will be offered the candidacy of former Foreign Minister and Member of the European Parliament Toomas Hendrik Ilves.

Two more ruling parties - the Center and the People's Union - refused to participate in the vote. Their candidate, the current president, 78-year-old Arnold Ruutel, is ready to participate in the elections, but only if, after three possible rounds, parliament fails to cope with the task and the Electoral College has to be resorted to. This is exactly what happened in all presidential elections in Estonia after the restoration of independence. Both the first president, Lennart Meri (two terms), and the second, Arnold Rüutel, were elected with the help of local government representatives.

If parliament does not obtain the required two-thirds of votes when voting on Ms. Ene Ergma's candidacy today, a second round will take place on Tuesday. And since the centrists and populists are not going to touch the ballots, there may not be enough votes. In general, the election campaign in Estonia was not very stormy, except for the scandalous attempts to remove Ruutel from the race, when in the spring the main topic was youth parties in the government Kadriorg Palace of the president’s very young granddaughters. Then the opposition became concerned about the president’s age and health, as well as his communist past. However, talk about the health of Ruutel, who was again ready to become president, did little to disturb Estonians, because Estonia is a parliamentary republic headed by a prime minister. But Rüütel’s supporters did not remain in debt, for example, 52-year-old Toomas Hendrik Ilves got it: they say, he was born in America, and even his grandmother is Russian...

The hero of today is Doctor of Physics and Mathematics, Vice-President of the Estonian Academy of Sciences Ene Ergma recently entered politics. She devoted many years to astrophysics, studying and working in Moscow. Here in 1969, Ergma graduated from the Faculty of Astronomy of Moscow State University and defended her candidate and doctoral dissertations. Since 1988 she has been a professor at the University of Tartu. Speaks Russian, English, Polish and German. The astronomer commented on her entry into politics in 2003 to the Youth of Estonia newspaper, when she was elected to parliament after the unexpected and resounding victory of the Republic party (Res Publica): “It was as much a surprise for me as it was for everyone else.” . I joined the party a little less than a year ago, more precisely, on April 10. It all started with my acquaintance with the young party leaders Urmas Reinsalu and Ken Marty Vaher. I just wrote the “Code of Ethics for Scientists” in February, and this, apparently, somehow “hooked” them. The guys came to me and told me that “Republic” attaches great importance to ethics in political activity. We talked - well, as strangers usually talk - about the weather, health, politics. As a result, we developed mutual sympathy, which then grew into a deeper feeling.”

And immediately she was elected speaker, that is, the second person in the state after the president. Estonia's first woman to become speaker now has the chance to become the first woman president. When the old coalition collapsed a year and a half ago, “Republic” went into opposition, and Ergma became vice-speaker. Russians should be reminded that Ergma has always advocated the development of relations between Estonia and Russia, but is of the opinion that, as the successor to the USSR, Russia should apologize to Estonians for the repressions and deportations of the 40s. This topic has become relevant again during this presidential campaign and will again be recalled during the parliamentary elections in the spring of 2007.

Vladimir GODZEV, Tallinn