Estonia elects new president

Estonia’s Parliament has elected the chief of a major national museum as the Baltic country’s new president in a second round of voting after he was rejected by lawmakers in Monday’s first voting round.

Report informs, citing AP, that lawmakers at the 101-seat Riigikogu legislature on Tuesday elected Alar Karis, director of the Estonian National Museum with 72 lawmakers supporting him, 8 voting blank and the rest absent or abstaining. He was the only candidate in both rounds, but failed to achieve the necessary two-thirds support, or 68 votes, in Monday’s first secret ballot.

The 63-year-old Karis, a former state auditor and university head, will succeed President Kersti Kaljulaid, Estonia’s first female president. She could not seek another five-year term in office because she failed to obtain a minimum of 21 lawmakers to propose her as a candidate.