2025 Latvian municipal elections

Municipal elections were held across Latvia on 7 June 2025. ^[1]

The elections were held in 42 municipalities. On 1 June 2021, the Constitutional Court of Latvia ruled that the annexation of Varakļāni Municipality to Rēzekne Municipality was unconstitutional. In response, the Saeima decided to preserve the existence of Varakļāni Municipality as a 43rd local government unit until 2025. ^{[2] [3]} In June 2024 the Saeima decreed that Varakļāni Municipality would be merged into Madona Municipality and 2025 Madona municipal election was held within the new borders. ^[4]

Electoral system

All 731 councilors will be elected using open-list proportional representation with a 5% electoral threshold. Seats are allocated using the Saint-Laguë method. The number of councilors was determined by the Central Election Committee based on the number of residents in a given municipality.

Seat allocation for the 2025 local elections ^[5]

Councilors	Municipality/State City	Comments
60	Riga
23	Ogre Municipality	more than 60,000 residents
19	Bauska Municipality, Cēsis Municipality, South Kurzeme Municipality, Jelgava Municipality, Jēkabpils Municipality, Ķekava Municipality, Madona Municipality, Mārupe Municipality, Ropaži Municipality, Sigulda Municipality, Talsi Municipality, Tukums Municipality, Valmiera Municipality	municipalities with more than 30,000 but less than 60,000 residents
15	Daugavpils, Jelgava, Jūrmala, Liepāja, Ādaži Municipality, Aizkraukle Municipality, Alūksne Municipality, Augšdaugava Municipality, Balvi Municipality, Dobele Municipality, Gulbene Municipality, Krāslava Municipality, Kuldīga Municipality, Limbaži Municipality, Līvāni Municipality, Ludza Municipality, Olaine Municipality, Preiļi Municipality, Rēzekne Municipality, Salaspils Municipality, Saldus Municipality, Saulkrasti Municipality, Smiltene Municipality, Valka Municipality, Ventspils Municipality	municipalities with less than 30,000 residents and state cities with more than 50,000 residents, except Riga
13	Rēzekne, Ventspils	state cities with fewer than 50,000 residents

Voting rights

The right to participate in municipal elections is for citizens of Latvia and other European Union Member States who were 18 years of age and are eligible to vote. In order to participate in municipal elections in Latvia, citizens of the European Union must be registered in the Latvian Population Register 90 days before the elections. All voters must be registered in the Voters Register as well. Voters have the right to vote in the local government where they have their registered place of residence 90 days before election day or in the local government where they own real estate registered. ^[6]

Voters who have the right to vote in municipal elections, but who will be abroad during the election, can vote by mail from abroad. ^[7]

New ballot papers

Starting with the 2025 local elections, new ballot papers will be in force in Latvia. The main changes will affect those voters who wish to highlight one of the candidates in particular, or express a negative attitude towards one of the candidates on the selected list. Until now, it was customary for candidates whom a particular voter particularly supports to be marked with a “+” sign, and undesirable ones to be simply crossed out. According to this new ballot paper model, next to each candidate's name there will be two differently colored fields, and the voter will be able to shade one – the green field – if they particularly support a candidate, or shade the other – the red field – if they find the particular candidate unacceptable. ^[8]

Results

Daugavpils

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Go, Latgale!	15,879	69.03	14	New
	For Latvia's Development	1,601	6.96	1	1
	Latvia First, Latgale Party	1,119	4.86	0	2
	Daugavpils Municipality Party, Latvian Green Party	1,073	4.66	0	2
	National Alliance	1,053	4.58	0	New
	Daugavpils – mana pils	818	3.56	0	New
	For Stability!	700	3.04	0	New
	Sovereign Power, Alliance of Young Latvians	523	2.27	0	New
	Together for Latvia	159	0.69	0	New
	Union of Greens and Farmers	77	0.33	0
Total		23,002	100.00	15	0
Valid votes		23,002	98.82
Invalid/blank votes		275	1.18
Total votes		23,277	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		54,893	42.40
Source: Central Election Commission of Latvia

Jelgava

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Union of Greens and Farmers	3,440	19.15	3	3
	Sovereign Power, Alliance of Young Latvians	3,357	18.69	3	New
	New Unity	1,946	10.83	2
	National Alliance	1,869	10.40	2
	Movement For!	1,805	10.05	2
	New Conservative Party	1,381	7.69	1	1
	Latvian Association of Regions	1,371	7.63	1
	Latvia First	1,206	6.71	1	New
	Latvian Green Party	755	4.20	0	New
	The Progressives	558	3.11	0
	Social Democratic Party "Harmony"	215	1.20	0	1
	Centre Party	62	0.35	0	New
Total		17,965	100.00	15	0
Valid votes		17,965	98.98
Invalid/blank votes		185	1.02
Total votes		18,150	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		38,531	47.10
Source: Central Election Commission of Latvia

Jūrmala

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Latvian Green Party	6,771	35.52	6	New
	National Alliance	4,296	22.54	4	2
	Union of Greens and Farmers	2,351	12.33	2	6
	Social Democratic Party "Harmony"	1,491	7.82	1	1
	The Progressives	1,409	7.39	1	1
	Latvia First	1,167	6.12	1	New
	New Unity	680	3.57	0	1
	Sovereign Power, Alliance of Young Latvians	507	2.66	0	New
	Jūrmala – Our Home	333	1.75	0
	Centre Party	58	0.30	0	New
Total		19,063	100.00	15	0
Valid votes		19,063	98.67
Invalid/blank votes		256	1.33
Total votes		19,319	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		38,980	49.56
Source: Central Election Commission of Latvia

Liepāja

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Liepāja Party	9,144	46.14	9	3
	Latvian Association of Regions	4,050	20.43	4	1
	National Alliance	1,854	9.35	2	1
	Latvian Russian Union	929	4.69	0	New
	Social Democratic Party "Harmony"	878	4.43	0	2
	New Unity	807	4.07	0
	For Stability!	570	2.88	0	New
	Movement For!	563	2.84	0	1
	Sovereign Power, Alliance of Young Latvians	507	2.56	0	New
	Latvia First	440	2.22	0	New
	Latvian Green Party	77	0.39	0	New
Total		19,819	100.00	15	0
Valid votes		19,819	98.92
Invalid/blank votes		216	1.08
Total votes		20,035	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		46,029	43.53
Source: Central Election Commission of Latvia

Rēzekne

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Latvia First, Together for Latvia	5,139	50.95	8	New
	National Alliance, New Unity, For Latvia's Development	1,789	17.74	3
	Latvian Green Party, Latvian Association of Regions, New Conservative Party	1,211	12.01	2	1
	The Progressives	486	4.82	0	1
	Latgale Party	319	3.16	0	3
	Sovereign Power, Alliance of Young Latvians	288	2.86	0	New
	Social Democratic Party "Harmony"	280	2.78	0	8
	Go, Latgale!	253	2.51	0	New
	Union of Greens and Farmers	235	2.33	0	New
	Latvian Russian Union	87	0.86	0	New
Total		10,087	100.00	13	0
Valid votes		10,087	99.13
Invalid/blank votes		89	0.87
Total votes		10,176	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		10,176	100.00
Source: Central Election Commission of Latvia

Rīga

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Latvia First	38,793	18.29	13	New
	The Progressives	35,497	16.74	11
	National Alliance	30,328	14.30	10	6
	New Unity	27,548	12.99	9	1
	Sovereign Power, Alliance of Young Latvians	25,912	12.22	8	New
	For Stability!	14,813	6.98	5	New
	United List	13,421	6.33	4	New
	For Latvia's Development	9,053	4.27	0	3
	Social Democratic Party "Harmony"	7,375	3.48	0	12
	Honor to serve Riga!, Union of Greens and Farmers	5,273	2.49	0	5
	Platform 21	1,586	0.75	0	New
	Self-respect, People.Land.Statehood.	783	0.37	0	New
	New Conservative Party	751	0.35	0	4
	Latvian Revival Party	499	0.24	0	New
	Socialist Party of Latvia	366	0.17	0	New
	Centre Party	105	0.05	0
Total		212,103	100.00	60	0
Valid votes		212,103	99.13
Invalid/blank votes		1,852	0.87
Total votes		213,955	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		409,130	52.30
Source: Central Election Commission of Latvia

Ventspils

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	For Latvia and Ventspils	4,355	47.56	7
	National Alliance	1,558	17.01	2	1
	United List, New Conservative Party	1,467	16.02	2	1
	Movement For!, New Unity	713	7.79	1	1
	For Stability!	524	5.72	1	New
	Sovereign Power, Alliance of Young Latvians	222	2.42	0	New
	Latvia First	219	2.39	0	New
	Social Democratic Party "Harmony"	99	1.08	0
Total		9,157	100.00	13	0
Valid votes		9,157	98.95
Invalid/blank votes		97	1.05
Total votes		9,254	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		22,934	40.35
Source: Central Election Commission of Latvia

Aftermath

After the polling stations closed, problems with the ballot scanning system provided by the State Digital Development Agency (SDAA) led to a manual count, delaying the election results. Kristīne Saulīte, head of the Central Election Commission (CVK), said an investigation would be needed into the incident. On 9 June, Minister of Smart Administration and Regional Development Inga Bērziņa suspended the director of the State Digital Development Agency, Jorens Liopa, responsible for the electoral system, from his duties. On June 11, taking responsibility for problems with information technology solutions supporting the election process, Minister I. Bērziņa herself resigned from her position. ^[9] On same day, the head of the Central Election Commission (CVK), Kristīne Saulīte, has nevertheless decided to resign from her position, in following day. ^[10]

References

1. "Local Elections 2025" (in Latvian). Central Election Commission. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
2. Upleja, Sanita (1 June 2021). "Varakļāni paliek kā atsevišķs novads; Rēzeknes un Varakļānu novadā vēlēšanas pārceltas (plkst. 16.15)". Delfi (in Latvian). Retrieved 23 December 2024.
3. "Law on Administrative Territories and Populated Areas, 2021 version". Likumi. Latvijas Vēstnesis. 1 July 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
4. "Varakļāni, Madona municipalities merge". Public Broadcasting of Latvia . 2024-07-14. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
5. "Nosaka pašvaldību domēs ievēlējamo deputātu skaitu; mazāk būs Rēzeknes, Aizkraukles un Dobeles novadā". Public Broadcasting of Latvia (in Latvian). 2025-01-09.
6. "Local Elections 2025" (in Latvian). Central Election Commission. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
7. "Local Elections 2025" (in Latvian). Central Election Commission. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
8. "Elections will see new-design ballot papers in Latvia". Public Broadcasting of Latvia . Retrieved 23 December 2024.
9. "Vēlēšanu nedienu dēļ no amata atkāpjas VARAM ministre Bērziņa". Public Broadcasting of Latvia . Retrieved 11 June 2025.
10. "CVK vadītāja Saulīte tomēr Saeimai paziņo par atkāpšanos no amata". Public Broadcasting of Latvia . Retrieved 11 June 2025.