Latvian presidential election, 2015

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Indirect presidential elections were held in Latvia on 3 June 2015. [1] Raimonds Vējonis of the Green Party was elected President, to take 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. [2]

Latvia republic in Northeastern Europe

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.

Raimonds Vējonis Ninth president of Latvia

Raimonds Vējonis is the current President of Latvia, He has been in office since 2015. He is a member of the Green Party, part of the Union of Greens and Farmers. He served as Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development in 2002 and in 2011 and as Minister of the Environment from 2003 to 2011, while the Ministry of Regional Development was a separate department. He became Minister of Defence of Latvia in 2014 and held that office until becoming President in 2015.

President of Latvia

The President of Latvia, is head of state and commander-in-chief of the National Armed Forces of the Republic of Latvia.

Contents

Election

Incumbent Andris Bērziņš announced in April 2015 that he would not seek a second term. [3]

Andris Bērziņš (Latvian President) eighth president of Latvia

Andris Bērziņš is a Latvian businessman and politician who was President of Latvia from 2011 to 2015. Bērziņš was the President of Unibanka from 1993 to 2004. He was elected as President by the Saeima on 2 June 2011.

The ruling coalition failed to agree on a joint candidate, with the Union of Greens and Farmers nominating Defence Minister Raimonds Vējonis (who also had the support of most of Unity's MPs), while the National Alliance nominated European Court of Justice judge Egils Levits (who also had the support of Unity's Lolita Čigāne and For Latvia from the Heart's Ringolds Balodis).

Union of Greens and Farmers Latvian political coalition

Union of Greens and Farmers is a green conservative, agrarian political alliance in Latvia. It consists of two political parties: the Latvian Farmers' Union (LZS) and the Latvian Green Party (LZP). It is the third largest bloc in the Saeima. The Union of Greens and Farmers also cooperates closely with two regional parties: For Latvia and Ventspils and the Liepāja Party.

Ministry of Defence (Latvia) Latvian government ministry responsible for military and national defense matters

The Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Latvia is the Latvian government ministry in charge of the formation and implementation of national security and defence policy, and for the overall management and control of related subordinate agencies. The ministry is headed by the politically appointed Minister of Defence.

National Alliance (Latvia) right-wing political party in Latvia

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.

Two opposition parties also nominated candidates – the Latvian Association of Regions nominated its MP Mārtiņš Bondars and the Social Democratic Party "Harmony" nominated its MP Sergejs Dolgopolovs.

Latvian Association of Regions

The Latvian Association of Regions is a centrist political alliance in Latvia. It was founded on 13 March 2014 and is headed by Nellija Kleinberga. It won 8 seats in the Saeima at the 2014 parliamentary election. The LRA contested the elections as a political alliance of several smaller regionalist parties, including the Regional Alliance, the LSDSP, the Christian Democratic Union and the Vidzeme Party. The first leader of the alliance was Mārtiņš Bondars until stepping down and leaving the alliance in 2017. In the lead up to the 2018 elections, the LSDSP and the Christian Democrats left the alliance.

Mārtiņš Bondars Latvian politician and basketball player

Mārtiņš Bondars is a Latvian financier, politician, and former basketball player. He has been member of the Latvian parliament since 2014. Bondars previously served as chief of staff to then President of Latvia Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga.

Social Democratic Party "Harmony" political party in Latvia

The Social Democratic Party "Harmony", also commonly referred to as Harmony (Saskaņa), is a social-democratic political party in Latvia. It is the main catch-all party of the centre-left in Latvian politics. The party was founded in 2010 as the merger of the National Harmony Party (TSP) with New Centre (JC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a breakaway from the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party (LSDSP). At that time, all three were members of the former electoral alliance Harmony Centre. The alliance also included the communist Socialist Party of Latvia. The Daugavpils City Party merged into the party in 2011.

In the first round of votes in the Saeima, no one was elected. In the second round, Mārtiņš Bondars received the fewest votes and was eliminated, and in the third round, Sergejs Dolgopolovs was eliminated. In the fourth round, the only candidates remaining were Egils Levits and Raimonds Vējonis. Levits got 26 votes for, Vējonis got 46 votes for. In the final round, Vējonis was elected with 55 votes for and 42 votes against (99 lawmakers voted in total, but one vote was invalid).

Saeima parliament of Latvia

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.

Egils Levits Latvian judge, jurist and politician

Egils Levits is a Latvian lawyer, political scientist and judge. He has been a Member of the European Court of Justice since 2004.

Reaction

Vējonis stated that "I would like to improve relations with Russia... but while Russian rockets and heavy weapons remain in Ukraine, that's not really possible". He promised increasing national security while promoting environmentalism. [2]

Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma of Unity announced that she was pleased with the result. [2]

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References

  1. ↑ http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/legislation/?doc=106319
  2. 1 2 3 Collier, Mike; Sibierski, Mary (3 June 2015). "Latvia elects Vejonis, EU's first Green president". Yahoo!. Agence France-Presse. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  3. ↑ "Bērziņš will not run for second term". leta.lv. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
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