By Linas Jegelevicius in Vilnius

Leaders of Estonia’s ruling coalition parties shook hands on October 22 having moved away the roadblocks to holding a planned marriage referendum in the spring, instead of in November 2021, which would have coincided with local government elections.

The referendum was spearheaded by Estonia’s far-right Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) and will pose a question on whether or not marriage should be defined in the constitution as being between one man and one woman.

The party had originally wanted to repeal the Registered Partnership Act, which allows all couples to register their civil partnership in law and was introduced in 2015.

The referendum was written into the coalition agreement, which was drawn up in March 2019, as a compromise between the three parties and was scheduled to be held alongside the local elections in November 2021. Read more via BNE Intellinews