Mihhail Kõlvart

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 from April 2019, after the resignation of Taavi Aas, until the passing of a non-confidence motion on 26 March 2024.

Early life Kõlvart was born in Kyzylorda, Kazakh SSR, 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. 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 2016, he became a member of the executive committee of the Estonian Olympic Committee. In 2017 was elected as a president of Estonian Taekwondo Federation. In 2022 obtained an honorary 7 dan from Kukkiwon.

Political career From 1999 to 2002, Kõlvart was a member of the district council of the Lasnamäe district of Tallinn. In 2008, he joined the Estonian Centre Party. 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 in 2011, 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.