Mihhail Kõlvart (born 24 November 1977) is an Estonian politician currently serving as the leader of the Centre Party since 2023. He served as the mayor of

Tallinn, Estonia Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

, a position he has held since April 2019, after the resignation of Taavi Aas, until the vote of no confidence in him held on 26 March 2024.

Early life

Kõlvart was born in

Kyzylorda Kyzylorda ( , formerly known as Kzyl-Orda (), Ak-Mechet (Ак-Мечеть), Perovsk (Перовск), and Fort-Perovsky (Форт-Перовский), is a city in south-central Kazakhstan, capital of Kyzylorda Region and former capital of the ...

Kazakh SSR The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Kazakhstan, the Kazakh SSR, KSSR, or simply Kazakhstan, was one of the transcontinental constituent republics of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1936 to 1991. Located in northern Centr ...

, to an Estonian father, Ülo Kõlvart, and Liidia Kõlvart (née Shek), who was of Chinese and Korean ancestry. The couple met while they were both studying at

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

. His father is the founder of the Estonian National Taekwondo Association in 1992 and was its first president from 1992 to 1996. His mother was a teacher. He moved with his parents to Estonia when he was three years old. Kõlvart has a daughter with Jaana Kalinistova. He graduated from in 1995. He studied jurisprudence and later business law at the International College of Applied Social Sciences LEX in Tallinn.

Athletic career

Kõlvart made a name for himself as a top athlete nationally and internationally in the disciplines of boxing, kickboxing and Taekwondo, of which he has a black belt in (5th dan). Starting in 1993, he worked in Tallinn as a Taekwondo coach. In 1996, he was elected President of the Estonian National Taekwondo Association. In 2016, he became a member of the Executive Committee of the

Estonian Olympic Committee The Estonian Olympic Committee (, EOK) is responsible for Estonia's participation in the Olympic Games. History The Estonian Sports Federation () decided to form the Estonian Olympic Committee in the First Estonian Sport Congress () on 30 Novem ...

. In 2017 was elected as a president of Estonian Taekwondo Federation. In 2022 obtained a honorary 7 dan from Kukkiwon.

Political career

From 1999 to 2002, Kõlvart was a member of the district council of the

Lasnamäe Lasnamäe is the most populous administrative district of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. The district's population is about 119,000, the majority of which is Russian-speaking. Local housing is mostly represented by 5–16 stories high panel b ...

district of Tallinn. In 2008, he joined the

Estonian Centre Party The Estonian Centre Party (, EK) is a populist political party in Estonia. It was founded in 1991 as a direct successor of the Popular Front of Estonia, and it is currently led by Mihhail Kõlvart. The party was founded on 12 October 1991 f ...

. In 2009, he was elected to the Tallinn city council. He was particularly committed to youth and sport and the rights of ethnic minorities in Tallinn, and as such, has made him popular with the Russian-speaking minority of Tallinn. He was elected to the

Riigikogu 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 chi ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, of which he was a member of until 2019. In April 2011, he resigned as a deputy mayor of Tallinn to serve in the Riigikogu. Later on, from 2017 to 2019, he was the chairman of the Tallinn City Council. He resigned in April 2019, as he was elected mayor of Tallinn on 11 April after the resignation of mayor Taavi Aas to serve in the cabinet of

Jüri Ratas Jüri Ratas (; born 2 July 1978) is an Estonian politician who served as the prime minister of Estonia from 2016 to 2021 and as the leader of the Centre Party from 2016 to 2023, and the mayor of Tallinn from 2005 to 2007. Ratas was a member o ...

. On 30 September 2019, he was made an honorary citizen of

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

by Seoul's mayor

Park Won-soon Park Won-soon (; February 11, 1955 or March 26, 1956July 9, 2020) was a South Korean politician, activist, and lawyer. He was the longest-serving mayor of Seoul, from 2011 until his death in July 2020. A member of the Democratic Party of Kore ...

, and in April 2022 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Shinhan University. On 10 September 2023, Kõlvart was elected leader of the

at a special party conference in

Paide Paide is a town in Estonia and the capital of Järva County, one of the 15 counties of Estonia. Etymology Paide's German name (originally or in Low German) means 'white stone'. This name was derived from the limestone used for the constru ...

. He received 543 votes (51.91%), defeating

Tanel Kiik Tanel Kiik (born 23 January 1989) is an Estonian politician and former cabinet minister. In the years 2012–2016, Tanel Kiik was an advisor to Jüri Ratas in the Riigikogu and in the years 2016–2019, he was the head of Prime Minister Jüri ...

who received 489 votes (46.75%). On 26 March 2024, Kõlvart was removed from the office of mayor after the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

joined the opposition in the

Tallinn City Council Tallinn City Council () is the representative body of the municipality of Tallinn, the capital and biggest city of Estonia. The executive power body of Tallinn is the Tallinn City Government. Election The members of the Tallinn City Council are ...

in voting for the motion of no confidence in him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolvart, Mihhail 1977 births Estonian Centre Party politicians Estonian male boxers Estonian male kickboxers Estonian people of Chinese descent Estonian people of Korean descent Living people Mayors of Tallinn Members of the Riigikogu, 2011–2015 Members of the Riigikogu, 2023–2027 People from Kyzylorda Boxers from Tallinn Estonian expatriates in Kazakhstan Kazakhstani people of Chinese descent Estonian Centre Party MEPs