Raimond Kaljulaid (born 27 January 1982) is an

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 ...

n politician and a member of the

Estonian Parliament The Riigikogu (; from Estonian ''riigi-'', of the state, and ''kogu'', assembly) is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. In addition to approving legislation, the Parliament appoints high officials, including the Prime Minister and Chief Jus ...

since 2019. Kaljulaid was elected in the list of Centre Party, but quit the party in protest of Centre Party's decision to form a coalition cabinet with the Conservative People's Party, and joined the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

in November 2019.

Career

Kaljulaid began his political career in 2002 as a

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

advisor of

Edgar Savisaar Edgar Savisaar (31 May 1950 – 29 December 2022) was an Estonian politician, one of the founding members of Popular Front of Estonia and the Centre Party. He served as the acting Prime Minister of Estonia, Minister of the Interior, Minister ...

, the then

Mayor of Tallinn The following is a list of Mayors of Tallinn (before 1918 ), Estonia. See also * Timeline of Tallinn External links Mayors of Tallinn {{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Mayors Of Tallinn List of mayors of Tallinn Tallinn Mayors In many countries, a ma ...

and father of his partner at the time Maria. He left the position in 2004 and went on to create his own marketing and public relations company which became the main organiser of Centre party's election campaigns for the next 15 years. In March 2016 Kaljulaid was appointed to the post of Elder of Põhja-Tallinn district of Tallinn. He was suspected in abetting embezzlement in connection to the corruption probe into Center Party Chairman Edgar Savisaar, but the Prosecutor General dropped the charges due to lack of public interest in the proceedings with Kaljulaid agreeing to pay 1,000 euros into state budget and 800 euros to cover the cost of an expert opinion. In 2016 Kaljulaid was elected to the

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

of the Center Party. Strong performance in 2016 local elections was followed by success in the

2019 Estonian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Estonia on 3 March 2019. The newly elected 101 members of the 14th Riigikogu assembled at Toompea Castle in Tallinn within ten days of the election. The Reform Party remained the largest party, gaining four ...

landing him in the Riigikogu. Kaljulaid opposed the party's coalition with the right wing Conservative People's Party and quit the party in protest. Kaljulaid ran independently in the European Parliament elections in 2019. He gained 20,640 votes but was not elected. On 7 November 2019, Kaljulaid joined the

Estonian Social Democratic Party The Social Democratic Party ( et, Sotsiaaldemokraatlik Erakond, SDE) is a centre-left political party in Estonia. It is currently led by Lauri Läänemets. The party was formerly known as the Moderate People's Party ( et, Rahvaerakond Mõõduka ...

Personal life

In 2008, Kaljulaid married Estonian photographer Olga Makina. They divorced in 2016. In June 2019 Kaljulaid announced his marriage to Jane Palm. Jane and Raimond Kaljulaid also produce content for an English language blo
Effortlesshiking.com
that teaches people about the basics of hiking. Kaljulaid is the paternal half-brother of the former President of Estonia Kersti Kaljulaid. Kaljulaid has said that although knowing each of other's existence, they were not close nor spent time together in their childhoods.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaljulaid, Raimond 1982 births Living people Social Democratic Party (Estonia) politicians Estonian Centre Party politicians Members of the Riigikogu, 2019–2023 21st-century Estonian politicians University of Tartu alumni Tallinn University alumni Politicians from Tallinn