1919–1920

In 1919, Finland re-adopted a republican constitution. It established the fundamental political rights, and freedom of expression, association and assembly. The president was given great powers: the right to dissolve the parliament, appoint the government and impose foreign policy, act as commander-in-chief of the Defense Forces and appoint the highest officials. After the State Regent Mannerheim abandoned plans to intervene in St. Petersburg, the parliament elected K. J. Ståhlberg, president of the Supreme Administrative Court and an experienced centrist politician, as the first President of Finland in July 1919. Finns continued their so-called tribal wars across the eastern border, aiming to annex East Karelia to Finland. The peace treaty between Finland and Soviet Russia was signed in Tartu in October 1920. In the peace treaty, Finland received the Petsamo area by the Arctic Ocean in exchange for the municipalities of Repola and Porajärvi.