Tallinn, Estonia’s parliament today elected the chief of a major national museum as the Baltic country’s new president in a second round of voting after lawmakers rejected the appointment a day earlier.

Estonian National Museum director Alar Karis secured support from 72 members of the 101-seat Riigikogu legislature while eight lawmakers voted blank and the rest abstained or were absent.

Karis was the only candidate in both rounds, but he failed to achieve the necessary two-thirds support, or 68 votes, in Monday’s secret ballot.

Karis is to assume office on 11 October 2021 according to initial information from the Estonian government. A native of Tartu, Estonia’s second-largest city after the capital, Tallinn, he is a molecular geneticist and developmental biologist by training. He became a university professor in 1999 and headed the University of Tartu between 2007-2012 as its rector, the Associated Press (AP) news reported.

Source: Oman News Agency