Estonia assembly fails to elect state president .
TALLINN 1996-08-27
The Estonian parliament failed for a third and final time to elect a new state president on Tuesday , refusing a second mandate for incumbent Lennart Meri .
Neither Meri nor his rival Arnold Ruutel could garner the 68 votes needed from the 101 members of parliament to become president .
In the third vote Meri won 52 and Ruutel won 32 votes .
The final decision will now be made by a larger assembly .
Meri won 49 in a second vote earlier on Tuesday and 45 in the first on Monday .
Ruutel won 34 votes in the first two secret ballots .
Enn Markvart , chairman of the National Election Commission said 96 members of parliament cast votes , with one ballot paper invalid and 11 abstentions .
The election will now go before an electoral college involving MPs and local government representatives that will be convened by the parliamentary Speaker in the next day or so .
It could take up to a month before a new vote but the timetable is not yet clear .
This is the first time the former Soviet republic has had to convene such a group .