The Latvian Green Party is a green conservative political party in Latvia.
The Union of Greens and Farmers is an agrarian political alliance in Latvia. It is made up of the Latvian Farmers' Union, Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party, and For Latvia and Ventspils.
Latvia has recognised civil unions since 1 July 2024. On 9 November 2023, the Saeima passed legislation establishing same-sex civil unions conferring similar rights and obligations as marriage with the exception of adoption and inheritance rights. The bill was signed into law by President Edgars Rinkēvičs in January 2024, and took effect on 1 July 2024. This followed a ruling from the Constitutional Court of Latvia on 12 November 2020 that the Latvian Constitution entitles same-sex couples to receive the same benefits and protections afforded by Latvian law to married opposite-sex couples, and gave the Saeima until 1 June 2022 to enact a law protecting same-sex couples. In December 2021, the Supreme Court ruled that should the Saeima fail to pass civil union legislation before the 1 June 2022 deadline, same-sex couples may apply to a court to have their relationship recognized. The Saeima failed to meet this deadline, and the first same-sex union was recognized by the Administrative District Court on 30 May 2022.
Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš is a Latvian American politician who served as the prime minister of Latvia from 2019 until 2023. A linguist and businessman by profession, he previously served as Latvia's minister of Economics and a Member of the European Parliament. Born in Wilmington, Delaware, United States, to parents who had left Latvia during the Soviet occupation, he was active in the American Latvian community throughout his youth.
Parliamentary elections were held in Latvia on 6 October 2018. Following the elections, a coalition government was formed by Who owns the state?, the New Conservative Party, Development/For!, the National Alliance and New Unity. Despite being from the smallest elected party, Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš of New Unity was chosen as prime minister.
Unity is a liberal-conservative political party in Latvia. It is a member of the New Unity alliance and is positioned on the centre-right on the political spectrum. Since 2017, its chairman of the Main Board has been the former Minister for Economics of Latvia, Arvils Ašeradens, who succeeded former European Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.
Māris Kučinskis is a Latvian politician, who served as the prime minister of Latvia, from 2016 to 2019.
The New Unity is a centre-right political alliance in Latvia. Its members are Unity and four other regional parties, and it is orientated towards liberal-conservatism and liberalism.
Rihards Kozlovskis is a Latvian politician and lawyer. He has served as the Minister of the Interior of Latvia since 2023; and previously served in the same position from 2011 to 2019. He is a member of Unity. Between 2011 and 2014 he was a member of the Reform Party
Laimdota Straujuma is a Latvian economist who was the prime minister of Latvia from January 2014 to February 2016. Before her tenure as prime minister, she served as the minister of Agriculture from 2011 to 2014. She was the first woman to serve as the head of government of the country. After her resignation on 7 December 2015, she announced her intention to resume a seat in the Saeima.
Jānis Bordāns is a Latvian politician and lawyer, the Deputy Prime Minister and the former Minister of Justice of the Republic of Latvia from 2019 to 2022, and previously from 2012 to 2014.
The Second Straujuma cabinet was the government of Latvia from 5 November 2014 to 11 February 2016. It was the second government to be led by Laimdota Straujuma, who was the Prime Minister from 2014 to 2016. It took office after the October 2014 parliamentary election, succeeding the first Straujuma cabinet, which lasted 8 months.
Dace Melbārde is a Latvian politician. She is a member of New Unity, having defected from the National Alliance in 2022 and was the Latvian minister of culture from 2013 to 2019. In May 2019, representing the political party National Alliance, she was elected as a Member of the European Parliament, where she joined the European Conservatives and Reformists group.
Aldis Gobzems is a Latvian politician and lawyer. He first rose to prominence as a lawyer who represented victims of the 2013 Zolitūde shopping centre roof collapse, and was the prime ministerial candidate for the Who Owns the State? party in the 2018 Latvian parliamentary elections.
Parliamentary elections were held in Latvia on 1 October 2022 to elect the Fourteenth Saeima of Latvia, following the end of the term of the 13th Saeima elected in 2018.
The first Krišjānis Kariņš' cabinet was the 40th government of Latvia, sworn in on 23 January 2019 after Krišjānis Kariņš was proposed as Prime Minister by President Raimonds Vējonis and elected by the Saeima and working until 14 December 2022, when Saeima passed a motion of confidence in the Second Kariņš' cabinet.
Latvia and Sweden have bilateral relations dating back to at least 1776, when a Swedish consulate was established in Riga. Parts of Livonia fell under the Swedish Empire from 1621 to 1709, including the dominion of Swedish Livonia. The two resumed diplomatic relations on 28 August 1991, following Latvia's restoration of independence amidst the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Latvia has an embassy in Stockholm while Sweden has an embassy in Riga. Both countries border the Baltic Sea and are members of the European Union, the Nordic-Baltic Eight, the Council of Europe and NATO, among other organisations. Latvia supported Sweden's NATO membership during Sweden's accession into NATO, which was finalized on 7 March 2024.
Evika Siliņa is a Latvian lawyer and politician who has been serving as the prime minister of Latvia since 15 September 2023. From 2022 to 2023, she served as Minister of Welfare in the second cabinet of prime minister Krišjānis Kariņš. She is a member of the Unity political party, and the second female head of government of Latvia.
The Evika Siliņa cabinet is the 42nd and current government of Latvia, sworn in on 15 September 2023 after Evika Siliņa was proposed as Prime Minister by President Edgars Rinkēvičs and elected by the Saeima.
Rihards Kols is a Latvian politician of the National Alliance who was elected member of the European Parliament in 2024. He was a member of the Saeima since 2014, serving as the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee from 2018 to 2024. During his tenure, Kols led the Saeima delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and represented the Saeima in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
