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Toomas Hendrik Ilves has defeated incumbent Arnold Rüütel, to become the new President of Estonia. Ilves received 174 votes from the 345 members of the Electoral Assembly, against 162 by Rüütel.
Ilves has been a member of the Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, since 1999, and a Social Democratic member of the European Parliament since 2004. He has served as foreign minister on two occasions, and prior to that, was Estonian ambassador to the USA, the country in which he grew up.
He will begin his five-year term in office on 9 October.
25 September 2006
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