ESTONIA NIXES POLL FOR PRESIDENT

Parliament voted down a Center Party-sponsored bill last week that called for direct presidential elections, following the advice of the constitutional committee. The constitution deserves to be treated as a whole document, the committee said, whereas this bill would introduce amending the constitution piece-by-piece. "We are discussing amendments of the constitution in more general terms," committee chairwoman Liia Hanni said. "The election mechanism cannot be separated and discussed apart from the entire constitution." Based on this argument, 44 members of Parliament voted against the bill and 36 voted for it. Most of the MPs who rejected the proposal to introduce direct presidential elections here are part of the ruling three party coalition of the Moderates, Pro Patria Union and Reform Party. Pro Patria Union MP, Lauri Vahtre, said it was too early to propose a direct vote for president, but because of the issue_s popularity among voters, direct elections should be discussed further. Center Party members were hoping to get the bill passed before the next presidential elections to be held in 2001. Recent public opinion polls show that nearly 75 percent of Estonians support a direct vote for president. Lithuania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Poland, Rumania, Slovenia, Russia, Ukraine and France all have direct presidential elections within a parliamentary system of government.