Estonian Provincial Assembly

The Estonian Provincial Assembly (Eestimaa Kubermangu Ajutine Maanõukogu, (Ajutine) Maanõukogu, Eesti Maanõukogu, (Eesti) Maapäev) was elected after the February Revolution in 1917 as the national diet of the Autonomous Governorate of Estonia in Russian Empire. On November 28, 1917, after the October Revolution the Assembly declared itself the sovereign power on Estonia and called for the elections of the Estonian Constituent Assembly. On the eve of the German occupation of Estonia in World War I the council elected the Estonian Salvation Committee and issued the Estonian Declaration of Independence on February 24, 1918. On April 12, 1917, the Russian Provisional Government issued an order on the provisional autonomy of Estonia. The Governorate of Estonia, comprising what is now northern Estonia was merged with the Estophone northern part of the Governorate of Livonia, to form the autonomous governorate. The Russian Provisional Government decreed that a provincial assembly, colloquially known as the Maapäev, be created with members elected by indirect universal suffrage. Elections for the 62 deputies of the diet were held in many stages; members representing the rural communities were elected in two-tiered elections in May–June, while the town representatives were elected in July–August, 1917. The election process saw the creation and reorganization of Estonian national parties. Six parties were represented at the diet, with three independent deputies and two deputies representing the Baltic German and Swedish-Estonian minorities. List of members of the Estonian Provincial Assembly In the wake of the November revolution in St Petersburg, when the Bolshevik Estonian Military Revolutionary Committee staged a coup d’état, the Maapäev refused to recognize the new Bolshevik rule. The Bolsheviks then attempted to disband the council. In its last meeting on 15 November, the Maapäev proclaimed itself the supreme legal authority of Estonia until the convening of the Constituent Assembly. The Committee of Elders was authorized to issue laws.