Riga  - The Latvian parliament on Thursday rejected constitutional amendments, giving voters a right to call for snap elections, forcing the small Baltic EU nation to hold a referendum on the issue.

After a nearly two-hour debate, the 100-member unicameral parliament failed to gather a simple majority to give voters a right unique among the EU member states: a right to dissolve a parliament.

Forty-four MPs voted for the bill, 37 voted against it and 17 abstained. The referendum is to be held within next two months.

The parliament rejected proposed changes to the constitution supported by 217,567 Latvians who signed the bill during a month-long signature drive campaign, dealing a major blow to the centre-right government led by Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis.

"The message is, in essence, that we don't approve the direction our country is going and policies the government has implemented. The demand for change is very high," University of Latvia political science professor Janis Ikstens told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The government opposed the effort, saying it would throw the Baltic nation of 2.3 million people into political chaos.

At the same time, Latvian President Valdis Zatlers asked the parliament this week to expand presidential powers to give the president a right to call snap elections without jeopardizing his job. The parliament is expected to debate the president's initiative before its summer recess.

Staggering inflation, rising prices on utilities and food and several high-profile corruption cases in government drove people to polling stations during the signature drive, which ended in April and was initiated by the Latvian Free Labour Unions.

With the support of the opposition party New Era, the unions needed to collect almost 150,000 signatures to put the measure to a parliamentary vote.

If the measure is adopted, Latvia would become the only country in the 27-nation European Union where voters could dissolve the parliament and call for early elections.

Under the current law, the president can dissolve the parliament by putting his job on the line in a referendum. No snap elections have been called in the 90-year political history of Latvia. (dpa)