The Patriotic League ( et, Isamaaliit) was a political movement founded in 1935 in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

, and thereafter, until 1940, the only legal political quasi-party, as the activities of any political party were suspended in the country during that time.

History

After

Konstantin Päts Konstantin Päts (; – 18 January 1956) was an Estonian statesman and the country's president in 1938–1940. Päts was one of the most influential politicians of the independent democratic Republic of Estonia, and during the two decades prior ...

self-coup A self-coup, also called autocoup (from the es, autogolpe), is a form of coup d'état in which a nation's head, having come to power through legal means, tries to stay in power through illegal means. The leader may dissolve or render powerless ...

in 1934, the activities of all political parties – including Päts's own Union of Settlers and Smallholders – were suspended. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p566 The Patriotic League was established on 9 March 1935 as the political movement of the establishment, with the opposition parties' activities remaining suspended.Vincent E McHale (1983) ''Political parties of Europe'', Greenwood Press, p380

Elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative ...

for a National Assembly to draft a new constitution for Estonia were held in 1936. The Patriotic League's individual candidates won in 50 of the 80 constituencies (seats) in the elections where only individual candidates could participate.Nohlen & Stöver, p568 Prior to the 1938 parliamentary elections the Patriotic League formed the National Front for the Implementation of the Constitution to run in the election, although the Front was effectively the same organisation.

References

{{Authority control Defunct political parties in Estonia Political parties established in 1935 Political parties disestablished in 1940 Parties of one-party systems