Kersti Kaljulaid elected next President of Estonia

After months of political stalemate, Kersti Kaljulaid was elected as president of Estonia by the parliament on Monday, a media report said.

Kaljulaid won 81 votes in the 101-member parliament, Xinhua quoted the Estonian Broadcasting Corporation (ERR) as saying. A minimum of or 68 votes, or two-third of the parliamentary seats, was required.

Kaljulaid will become the country's first female president. She is the Estonian representative to the European Court of Auditors.

Kaljulaid won the opportunity after rounds of voting failed to produce a winner.

On Saturday, a 335-member electoral body could not elect a new president, as neither former Prime Minister and former EU commissioner Siim Kallas nor former Education Minister Mailis Reps won the necessary majority of votes.

The election then passed on back to the Riigikogu, the Estonian parliament, which proved unable to elect a president in the previous voting. Both Kallas and Joks said they would not run anymore.

Kaljulaid turned out to be the only hopeful when things got complicated.

--IANS

sku/