Estonian presidential hopeful Madise gains 63rd signature
Estonian Justice Chancellor Ülle Madise now has the backing of 63 Riigikogu MPs for her presidential bid after another Reform Party member declared his support. The Riigikogu vote is scheduled for September 2-3.
Reform Party MP Mart Võrklaev, who had previously been hesitant to back Justice Chancellor Ülle Madise's presidential candidacy, has announced he now supports her. That brings the number of MPs backing her with signatures to 63, well above the 21 required for formal nomination.
Even if all 63 signatories vote for her in the Riigikogu's secret ballot on September 2-3, Madise would still be five votes short of election.
Võrklaev, a former finance minister, said he made his decision after a separate meeting with Madise, held apart from her meeting with the Reform faction. He confirmed he will vote for her in the first of three planned ballots on September 2. He stressed that every Riigikogu member elects the president individually according to their own conscience, not on instruction from a faction. After two meetings — one with the faction and one with Madise herself — he said he was confident that backing her was the right choice for Estonia.
As recently as last Thursday, Võrklaev had still been undecided, noting that the other leading candidate, Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) Rector Tiit Land, was also a worthy contender.
Madise now has the support of all MPs from the governing Reform and Eesti 200 parties, along with nearly all Social Democratic Party (SDE) members. The one holdout is Züleyxa Izmailova, who said last week she would decide after Madise met with the SDE faction, a meeting that took place on Monday.
Earlier last week, both Reform and Eesti 200 each lost one MP to the ranks of independents, bringing that group to 20 members — a significant bloc given that 68 votes are needed for election in the 101-seat Riigikogu. Isamaa and the Center Party have met with both Land and Madise but have not yet declared formal support for either, while the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) has nominated its founder, Mart Helme.
The formal nomination window for candidates with at least 21 supporting signatures runs from Friday, August 21, to Monday, August 24.
