The Estonian parliament on Monday (October 3) elected the country's first female head of state. <br /> <br />Kersti Kaljulaid, 46, a former EU budget auditor, received 81 votes in the election for the five-year presidential term, well above the two-thirds majority of 68 required. <br /> <br />"I was not surprised by the result," she told reporters after addressing the Estonian parliament. <br /> <br />"I'm only just returning from high European office so my first task is to go and talk to Estonian people all around the country," she added. <br /> <br />The office is largely symbolic in the Baltic country although it gained weight after outgoing President Toomas Hendrik Ilves carved a role as an outspoken critic of Russia and a campaigner for government digitalisation and cybersecurity.
