While 21 signatures are required to nominate a candidate during the registration process next week, the 62 in favor received at the time of writing is only six votes short of the 68 votes needed to get the next head of state elected at the Riigikogu.

Madise, who has not yet publicly given her consent to run, was backed by 61 coalition MPs from the Reform and Eesti 200 parties, plus MPs from the opposition Social Democrats (SDE).

This is not quite a clean sweep of all members of those parties — three MPs had yet to give their signatures: Mart Võrklaev, Margit Sutrop (both Reform) and Züleyxa Izmailova (SDE) were yet to sign in favor of Madise at the time of writing.

Võrklaev told ERR that he was still weighing up the matter. "For now, I would prefer to keep those reasons to myself," he said when asked why he had not yet signed in Madise's favor, and mentioned Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) rector Tiit Land as an alternative potential candidate. The Reform Party is to meet with Madise next Tuesday.

In response to ERR's inquiry about whether or not she plans to sign her support signature in the near future, Izmailova also said she will decide on giving her signature to Madise, or not, following a meeting between Madise and the SDE Riigikogu faction set for Monday.

Following departures from parties and their Riigikogu groups, the current Riigikogu has a large number of independent MPs, now 20, none of whom have given their signature in favor of Madise yet.

Some have declared that they will not vote at all, while others have promised to form their position after meeting Land and Madise.

The two newest independent MPs, Kalev Stoicescu and Meelis Kiili, who at the start of this week left Eesti 200 and Reform respectively, have stated they may instead back Land, in the interests of providing a choice and a debate, though Stoicescu added that this would not necessarily mean withdrawing his support for Madise.

As a reminder, as recently as July 23, Stoicescu wrote on his social media account that he was awaiting Madise's consent to run and for the collection of signatures in support of her nomination, and that he would back her.

Isamaa (eight seats) and the Center Party (seven seats) have both said they would potentially sign in favor of Land as a candidate, but they are also due to meet Madise too, and will make their decision after that meeting. With 15 seats combined, however, they lack the number of signatures to nominate Land or any other candidate alone, even if the four independent MPs who vote with those parties are factored in — though Stoicescu and Kiili would hold the balance then and could provide the required 21.

The actual nomination process is open Friday, August 21, the day after the Restoration of Independence Day, and runs to Monday, August 24. The Riigikogu voting takes place Wednesday, September 2 and Thursday, September 3.

Madise's name has been mentioned in connection with a potential presidential bid since the start of July. She would likely need to rescind her role as justice chancellor before running for president, due to conflict of interest issues.

You can read more on the proposed candidates here.

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