0 >The riigikogu sitting on Monday, December 14, where the marriage referendum bill passed its first reading. Source: Ken Mürk/ERR
According to daily newspaper Postimees, it is highly doubtful that the ruling coalition will get together a sufficient number of votes during the second reading of the draft resolution on a referendum on the definition of marriage for the draft to advance to its third and final vote.
In the first reading of the draft resolution of the Riigikogu, 48 members of the 101-seat chamber were in favor of dumping the bill, and 51 were against the proposal. Center Party member Mihhail Korb, who was absent from that sitting, likely counts as someone who will vote for the referendum plan this time, according to Postimees.
Opposition Social Democratic Party (SDE) MP Lauri Läänemets stepped down as deputy chairman of the constitutional committee of the Riigikogu on Friday to remove Anti Poolamets (EKRE) from the committee chairman post. New chairmen will likely be elected on Monday.
Thousands of motions to amend the oppositions has vowed to file before the second reading of the marriage referendum bill would paralyze state administration and would not constitute statesmanlike conduct, Jaanus Karilaid, deputy chairman of the ruling Center Party, said on the Otse uudistemajast webcast.
Karilaid said that first it is necessary to wait until December 30 by which all motions to amend need to be in. Next, we need to group them and see how many we can overlook on grounds of similarity, the politician said. If that fails, there will be a deadlock and need to think about what to do next, he explained.
The Riigikogu did not support a proposal by the opposition to reject the marriage referendum bill on Monday and the draft passed its first reading after a four-hour debate.
The proposal submitted by the opposition Reform Party and Social Democratic Party (SDE) to reject the bill was voted down with 48 votes for and 51 against.
Isamaa MPs Siim Kiisler, Üllar Saaremäe and Viktoria Ladõnskaja-Kubits voted in favor of rejecting the bill and Isamaa member Mihhail Lotman abstained.
Imre Sooäär, (Center) who has been critical of the marriage referendum, voted against the rejection of the bill. Mihhail Korb (Center) abstained.
On Monday, the draft marriage referendum bill will undergo its first reading in the Riigikogu and the opposition parties intend to vote it out. This would fail if every member of the coalition voted against it, but there are several members who have already said they will not agree to a future referendum. ERR s Estonian language portal examined how sceptical coalition members intend to vote on the draft.
The governing coalition of the Center Party (25 members), EKRE (19 members) and the Isamaa (12 members) has 56 votes in total in the Riigikogu, giving them a majority to pass legislation when needed.
No vote is required for the draft marriage referendum bill to pass the first reading, but the opposition can propose to vote the draft out of procedure and the Riigikogu. Chairman of the Social Democratic Party Indrek Saar and leader of the Reform Party Kaja Kallas have told ERR their factions will make a proposal to do so.