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This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Latvia |
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Foreign relations |
Parliamentary elections were held in Latvia on October 2, 2010. [1] [2] It was the first parliamentary election to be held in Latvia since the beginning of the economic crisis during which Latvia had experienced one of the deepest recessions in the world. [3]
Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. Since its independence, Latvia has been referred to as one of the Baltic states. It is bordered by Estonia to the north, Lithuania to the south, Russia to the east, and Belarus to the southeast, and shares a maritime border with Sweden to the west. Latvia has 1,957,200 inhabitants and a territory of 64,589 km2 (24,938 sq mi). The country has a temperate seasonal climate.
A total of 1,239 candidates representing 13 parties or alliances stood in five electoral constituencies equivalent to the four regions of Latvia and Riga city. With 1012 of 1013 polling stations counted, results showed an increase in support for the incumbent coalition government of Valdis Dombrovskis, with 58% of the vote and 63 of the 100 seats. [4]
Valdis Dombrovskis is a Latvian politician and the current European Commission Vice-President for the Euro and Social Dialogue, serving since November 2014. He served as Prime Minister of Latvia from 2009 until 2014, when he resigned. He served as Minister of Finance from 2002 to 2004 and was a Member of the European Parliament for the New Era Party. Following the resignation of Jonathan Hill, it was announced that Dombrovskis will take over the portfolio for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union from 16 July 2016. He delivers keynote speeches at events.
It appeared that early elections would be held in early 2009, when the government was faced with violent protests over the effects of the global financial crisis of 2008–2009 on Latvia and some politicians saw early elections as the only way to confront the people's anger. [5] The elections were to be averted if the Saeima passed constitutional reform laws, including a law to allow referendums on dissolving parliament, by 31 March 2009; [6] if this had not happened, the President of Latvia, Valdis Zatlers, would have dissolved parliament. [7]
2009 Riga riot was a civil unrest in Riga, Latvia on January 13, 2009.
The Saeima is the parliament of the Republic of Latvia. It is a unicameral parliament consisting of 100 members who are elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated to political parties which gain at least 5% of the popular vote. Elections are scheduled to be held once every four years, normally on the first Saturday of October. The most recent elections were held in October 2018.
The President of Latvia, is head of state and commander-in-chief of the National Armed Forces of the Republic of Latvia.
After surviving a vote of no confidence in early February, PM Ivars Godmanis resigned on 20 February 2009 after the two largest parties (People's Party and the Union of Greens and Farmers) called for his dismissal. [8] A new government was formed, headed by Valdis Dombrovskis. [9] There were also discussions that President Zatlers might use the parliamentary dissolution power of Latvian President to call a referendum on holding early elections. [10] Zatlers stated on 23 February 2009 that early elections might be necessary, and that he was willing to extend the deadline for reforms from 31 March for one week to 7 April 2009 due to the collapse of the government. [11]
The Prime Minister of Latvia is the most powerful member of the Government of Latvia, and presides over the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers. The Prime Minister is nominated by the President of Latvia, but must be able to obtain the support of a majority of the Saeima (parliament).
Ivars Godmanis is a Latvian politician who was Prime Minister of Latvia from 1990 to 1993 and again from 2007 to 2009. He was the first Prime Minister of Latvia after the country restored its independence from the Soviet Union.
The People's Party was a conservative political party in Latvia. The People's Party was the leader of three governments and a member of another four.
The tasks given to parliament were: pass constitutional amendments to allow the people to dissolve parliament, passing electoral reforms and setting up an economic supervisory council for the recovery plan and international loans. The tasks given to the government were: coming up with a recovery plan and implementing it, appointing a new head for the Corruption Prevention Board, and reorganising the government and public administration. [12] Zatlers stated he would hold talks with politicians from all parties on 31 March 2009 and announce his assessment of the situation on the same day. [13]
On 31 March 2009, Zatlers announced he would not dissolve parliament. The Saeima was to consider constitutional amendments as early as 9 April 2009. [14] [15]
Several changes to the election law took effect for this election. [16] The so-called "locomotive law" (Latvian : lokomotīvju likuma) meant that candidates were restricted to standing in one constituency. [16] In addition to completing registration forms in paper format, for the first time, parties also had to register electronically. [16] Voting hours were shortened, with polling stations closing two hours earlier at 8 pm instead of 10 pm. [16] Finally laws relating to election spending were tightened, in particular, laws against third party advertising on behalf of political parties were strengthened. [16]
There are thirteen parties and electoral alliances running: [17]
In the run-up to the election, three right-wing parties (New Era Party, Civic Union and Society for Other Politics) established an alliance called Unity on 6 March 2010. Furthermore, most of the parties constituting the Harmony Centre alliance (National Harmony Party, New Centre and Social Democratic Party – but not the Socialist Party of Latvia and the Daugavpils City Party) had merged into the Social Democratic Party "Harmony" on 10 February 2010. [19] On 22 April 2010, the People's Party and the Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way formed an electoral alliance (including the newly founded businessmen's movement For a Good Latvia) called For a Good Latvia. [20] [21]
Unity on 28 May 2010 declined to include For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK and the far-right All For Latvia! in their alliance; [22] these two parties then decided to form an electoral alliance. [23]
Numerous televised debates took place prior to the election. These involved either the party leaders or other senior party figures. In all, seven debates took place on the LNT Channel, five of these were held on a regional basis and all involved parties which were polling 2% or above in opinion polls. [24] A total of eleven debates took place on the LTV Channel, five of which were held on a regional basis, with one debate between the Prime Ministerial candidates and a further five held on the basis of five themes: Finance, Prosperity, Health, Economy and Development, and Education and Culture. Like the LNT debates, these involved parties which opinion polls indicated would poll 2% or more. A twelfth debate was held on LTV between the remaining seven parties or electoral lists which were not expected to poll 2%. The two debates held on the PBK Channel involved the four parties which the opinion polls indicated would poll 5% or more. However outgoing Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis refused to take part in the debate, following controversy over previous remarks made by the debate's moderator Aleksandr Gordon. Unity decided not to send a replacement and were absent from the debate. [25]
Pre-election polls had indicated that the outgoing government could be re-elected however they had also pointed to the possibility of one of the main opposition parties, Harmony Centre, making gains and becoming the largest party in the Saeima. [26]
According to a poll [27] conducted in June by Latvijas fakti, Harmony Centre would get 18.5% of the vote; Unity, 16.2%; Union of Greens and Farmers, 11.3%; For a Good Latvia, 5.3% and National Alliance, 4.4%.
A later Latvijas Fakti poll conducted between 25 and 27 September 2010 showed 21.2% support for Harmony Centre, 19.2% for Unity, 9.9% for Greens and Farmers and For Fatherland and Freedom on 5.2%. For a Good Latvia, led by members of the previous government, was at 7.8%. About 19 percent of the 1,004 respondents were undecided. The margin of error was 3.2 percent. [28]
The turnout was 62%. [29]
Parties and coalitions | Votes | % | Seats | Change | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unity (Vienotība) | 301,424 | 31.90% | 33 | +15 | |
Harmony Centre (Saskaņas centrs) | 251,397 | 26.61% | 29 | +12 | |
Union of Greens and Farmers (Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība)
| 190,025 | 20.11% | 22 | +4 | |
National Alliance
| 74,029 | 7.67% | 8 | ±0 | |
For a Good Latvia (Par Labu Latviju!) | 73,877 | 7.82% | 8 | –25 | |
For Human Rights in United Latvia (Par cilvēka tiesībām vienotā Latvijā) | 13,845 | 1.47% | 0 | –6 | |
Made in Latvia (Ražots Latvijā) | 9,381 | 0.99% | 0 | ±0 | |
Last Party (Pēdējā partija) | 8,458 | 0.90% | 0 | ±0 | |
For a Presidential Republic (Par prezidentālu republiku) | 7,102 | 0.75% | 0 | ±0 | |
Responsibility – Social Democratic Alliance of Political Parties (ATBILDĪBA – sociāldemokrātiska politisko partiju apvienība) | 6,139 | 0.65% | 0 | ±0 | |
People's Control (Tautas kontrole) | 4,002 | 0.42% | 0 | ±0 | |
Christian Democratic Union (Kristīgi demokrātiskā savienība) | 3,487 | 0.37% | 0 | ±0 | |
Daugava – For Latvia (Daugava – Latvijai) | 1,661 | 0.18% | 0 | ±0 | |
Total | 944,825 | 100 | — |
Though the result made a variety of coalition options possible, [31] including a coalition government formed by Harmony Centre and The Union of Greens and Farmers, [31] Dombrovskis said that Unity and the Greens and Farmers had agreed to continue working together and form a government, to be approved by parliament on 2 November. [32] For Fatherland and Freedom was also expected to be part of the government. [32] [ clarification needed ] However Domrbovskis also said that he was seeking a cooperation deal with Harmony Centre in a bid to win additional support for further budget cuts. "We offer an opportunity to sign a cooperation agreement with Harmony Center, to agree on cooperation in parliament, maybe, also delegating a minister." [33]
OSCE/ODIHR Limited Election Observation Mission provided, among others, the following recommendations:
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 has rated Latvia as "flawed democracy" in 2017.
The Latvian Green Party is a green political party in Latvia. It was founded on 13 January 1990 and is a member of the European Green Party. Unusually for a green party in Europe, the LZP is generally considered a centre-right party. Leading politicians of the party have often supported reactionary, nationalist, and anti-LGBT positions. The party has only gained representation in the Saeima by forming electoral alliances with other parties.
For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK was a free market national conservative political party in Latvia. In 2011, it dissolved and merged into the National Alliance.
Aigars Kalvītis is a Latvian politician, former Prime Minister of Latvia and current Chairman of the Board of Latvijas Balzams. Since August 2015, he is CEO of the Latvian gas company Latvijas Gāze.
Ģirts Valdis Kristovskis is a Latvian politician. He is a member of the centre-right Unity party.
Inese Vaidere is a Latvian politician and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP).
A presidential election was held in the Latvian Saeima on 31 May 2007. The government candidate Valdis Zatlers defeated Aivars Endziņš.
Valdis Zatlers is a Latvian politician and former physician who served as the seventh president of Latvia from 2007 to 2011. He won the Latvian presidential election of 31 May 2007. He became President of Latvia on 8 July 2007 and left office on 7 July 2011 after failing to win reelection for a second term.
The Society for Political Change was a social-liberal political party in Latvia founded on 6 September 2008. Its members include two former ministers, former foreign minister Artis Pabriks and former economics minister Aigars Štokenbergs; its first president was economist Gatis Kokins.
Responsibility – Social Democratic Alliance of Political Parties is a political coalition in Latvia, until 2010 called Libertas.lv, which was the local branch of Declan Ganley's Libertas Party. Unlike Libertas in other countries, Libertas Latvia was not a political party in its own right. Instead, candidates from Mūsu Zeme, Sociālā Taisnīguma Partija and Latvijas Atmoda contended the 2009 European Parliament elections in Latvia under common lists branded with the Libertas identity. The candidates retained their membership of their national parties and the national parties retained their legal identity.
Parliamentary elections were held in Latvia on 6 October 2018.
New Unity is a liberal-conservative political party in Latvia. It is currently the largest party of the centre-right in Latvian politics and was the leading party in the Dombrovskis and Straujuma cabinets from its inception in 2010 until February 2016 and is a member of the current coalition since January 2019 with its member Krišjānis Kariņš as Prime Minister. Unity is a member of the European People's Party (EPP).
The National Alliance, officially the National Alliance "All For Latvia!" – "For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK", abbreviated to NA, is a right-wing populist, national-conservative political party in Latvia. With thirteen seats in the Saeima, the National Alliance is the fourth-largest party in the national parliament and the third-largest party in the government. The party is a coalition of conservatives, Latvian ethnonationalists, and economic liberals.
Indirect presidential elections were held in Latvia on 2 June 2011. Incumbent president Valdis Zatlers was standing again, as well as Andris Bērziņš, a former head of SEB Unibanka ; Bērziņš was nominated by five Saeima members of the Union of Greens and Farmers just two days before the nomination deadline, although the party was assumed to back Zatlers for reelection.
A referendum on whether the Saeima should be dissolved early was held in Latvia on 23 July 2011. President Valdis Zatlers used his parliamentary dissolution power for the first time in the history of Latvia. A "yes/no" vote was held and the referendum passed with 94.3% support.
The Reform Party, until April 2012 known as Zatlers' Reform Party, was a centre-right political party in Latvia founded by former President Valdis Zatlers on 23 July 2011. It won 22 seats in the Saeima in the 2011 election.
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.
Gaidis Bērziņš is a Latvian politician, lawyer, and university lecturer in law. He is former Minister for Justice of Latvia and co-chair of the National Alliance, along with Raivis Dzintars.
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