Päts was allowed to stay in office, but on 21 June was forced to appoint the Soviet puppet Johannes Vares as prime minister. Now effectively a puppet himself, for an entire month Päts signed about 200 decrees for the new Soviet regime. Among other things, he signed a decree to change the electoral law, allowing the new regime to organize preliminary elections. This law was illegal, since the upper house of the Riigikogu had been dissolved and never reconvened. The new elections were only for the lower chamber, the Riigivolikogu, with voters being presented with a single list of Communists and fellow travellers. On Victory Day of 23 June 1940, Päts declared: "the greatest thing we have accomplished is the creation of the Estonian state. To her we have given our strongest love, our loyalty, our work, and our life." From 29 June 1940, Päts remained under permanent house arrest. Even in early July, Päts declared to the German ambassador that he did not believe Estonia would be Sovietized. On 21 July 1940, the Estonian SSR was proclaimed and it is claimed that only then Päts realized the essence of the Soviet occupation.