The politics of Latvia takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic,whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government,and of a multi-party system. The President holds a primarily ceremonial role as Head of State. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament,the Saeima. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Latvia a "flawed democracy" in 2022.
Artis Pabriks is a Latvian politician. Since January 2019 he has been the Minister for Defence and Deputy Prime Minister of Latvia. From 2014 to 2018,he was a Member of the European Parliament.
Latvia has recognised civil unions since 1 July 2024. On 9 November 2023,the Saeima passed legislation establishing same-sex civil unions,which was subsequently signed into law by President Edgars Rinkēvičs in January 2024. The law 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.
Andris Šķēle is a Latvian former politician and business oligarch. He served two terms as Prime Minister of Latvia from 1995 to 1997,and again from 1999 to 2000.
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 Kariņšof 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.
The National Alliance,officially the National Alliance "All for Latvia!" –"For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK",is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Latvia. A right-wing party,it has also been placed as the far right,or radical right,of the political spectrum. It is economically liberal.
Māris Kučinskis is a Latvian politician,who served as the prime minister of Latvia,from 2016 to 2019.
Early parliamentary elections were held in Latvia on 17 September 2011,following the country's first parliamentary dissolution referendum held on 23 July 2011. The previous parliamentary election was only held in October 2010.
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.
Edgars Rinkēvičs is a Latvian public official and politician serving as the 11th and current president of Latvia since July 2023. He previously served as the minister of foreign affairs of Latvia from 2011 to 2023,and head of the Chancery of the President of Latvia as state secretary of the Ministry of Defence,as well as a deputy of the Saeima.
Ilze Viņķele is a Latvian politician,and the former Minister for Welfare and Minister for Health of Latvia. Currently,she is a member of the political party Movement For!,formerly a part of the Development/For! alliance.
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
The First Straujuma cabinet was the government of Latvia from 22 January to 5 November 2014. It was the first government to be led by Laimdota Straujuma,who was Prime Minister between 2014 and 2016. It took office on 22 January 2014,after the resignation of Valdis Dombrovskis and was abolished on November 5 the same year at the formation of the Second Straujuma cabinet.
Events in the year 2014 in Latvia.
Indirect presidential elections were held in Latvia on 3 June 2015. Raimonds Vējonis of the Green Party was elected President and took office on 8 July. According to the European Green Party,he is the first of their members to become a head of state of a European Union member state.
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.
Movement For! is a liberal political party in Latvia. It is positioned in the centre on the political spectrum with an emphasis on social liberalism. The party was formed in August 2017. From 2018 to 2022 it was one of the members of the Development/For! alliance,before it de facto dissolved.
The second Krišjānis Kariņš' cabinet was the 41st government of Latvia,sworn in on 14 December 2022 after Krišjānis Kariņšwas proposed as Prime Minister by President Egils Levits and elected by the Saeima.
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.
