In the first round of presidential election in the Estonian parliament on Monday none of the candidates received the required 68 votes.
Estonia's new president not elected in first ballot round in parliament
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Allar Joks received 25 votes, four more than supporters of his nomination. Eiki Nestor received 40 votes, three fewer than signatures for his nomination. Mailis Reps collected 26 votes, one fewer than signatures for her nomination. Ballots with no boxes ticked off numbered eight.
A roll call at the start of the meeting showed that two out of 101 members of the Riigikogu were not present.
Running in the first round were the presidential candidate of the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL) and the Free Party, Allar Joks, who was nominated by 21 MPs, the Center Party's Mailis Reps supported by 27 MPs, and Eiki Nestor, backed by 43 MPs of the Reform Party and the Social Democratic Party (SDE).
Since none of the candidates received the required two-thirds majority or 68 votes, a second round of voting will be held at 12 noon on Tuesday, Aug. 30, for which candidates can be nominated from 8-10 a.m. The National Electoral Committee will hold a meeting to register the candidates at 11 a.m. If the president is not elected in the second round of voting, a third round will be held at 4 p.m. on the same day between the two candidates who received the biggest number of votes in the second round.
If neither candidate receives the required 68 votes in the third round, the speaker of the Riigikogu will convene an electoral body consisting of all 101 members of the parliament and 234 representatives of local government councils.