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2018 Latvian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Latvia on 6 October 2018.[1][2] 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.

Background

The 2014 elections saw Social Democratic Party "Harmony" emerge as the largest party. Although the largest party, Harmony has not participated in the government. A coalition was formed by Unity, the Union of Greens and Farmers and the National Alliance with Laimdota Straujuma as prime minister.[3] On 7 December 2015 she resigned after increasing tensions within the ruling coalition.[4][5] Following her resignation and several scandals around the Unity leader Solvita Āboltiņa, opinion polls showed a rapid decrease of support for Unity. On 13 January 2016 Māris Kučinskis of the Union of Greens and Farmers was nominated to be the next prime minister by President Raimonds Vējonis.[6] His government was approved by the Saeima on 11 February.

Electoral system

The 100 members of the Saeima are elected by open list proportional representation from five multi-member constituencies (Kurzeme, Latgale, Riga (in which overseas votes are counted), Vidzeme and Zemgale) between 13 and 32 seats in size. Seats are allocated using the Sainte-Laguë method with a national electoral threshold of 5%.[7]

Electoral alliances

The Movement For!, Latvian Development and Growth parties contested the election as the Development/For! alliance, formed on 20 April 2018.[8]

The Social Democratic Workers' Party, the Christian Democratic Union and Proud to Serve Our Latvia [lv] contested the election as the SKG Alliance electoral list,[9] the memorandum of which was signed by the leaders of the parties on 28 March 2018.[10][11]

The long-standing alliance of the Latvian Farmers' Union and the Green Party (in cooperation with the regional For Latvia and Ventspils and Liepāja Party) continued.

Unity formed an association in April 2018 with several regional parties under the New Unity alliance. The involved parties are the Kuldīga County Party, For Valmiera and Vidzeme and For Tukums City and County [lv] parties, joined by the Jēkabpils Regional Party.[12][13] The Latgale Party, after a period of consideration,[14] joined the alliance in July,[15] although its Daugavpils chapter allied itself with The Progressives.[16] The Progressives and Movement For! declined invitations to join the list.[17]

Disqualifications

The Central Election Commission of Latvia used its powers to remove eight candidates from submitted lists. It did so after receiving notification from the Interior Ministry that the individuals in question were disqualified from election to the Saeima under the country's election law.[18] The eight candidates were Aivars Zablockis and Nikolajs Žeļezņakovs (Eurosceptic Action Party), Zigfrīds Laicāns and Valdis Taupmanis (For Alternative), Edgars Krūmiņš (Latvian Association of Regions), Katrīna Brandala (The Progressives), Aivars Silinieks (Latvian Centrist Party) and Tatjana Ždanoka (Latvian Russian Union).[19] Ždanoka has been barred in the past as Latvian courts have found that she was a member of the Communist Party of Latvia after 31 January 1991, making her ineligible. The Election Commission additionally sought information from the Security Police and the Constitution Protection Bureau to confirm her ineligibility.[20]

Prime Minister candidates

Leading candidate by constituency

Other parties

Opinion polls

Graphical summary

All SKDS political party popularity poll results for 2018

Results

Winning party and their result by municipalities

Aftermath

Political leaders met on 18 October with the president Raimonds Vējonis. Although they failed to agree on a name for a prime minister, they reiterated their intention to form a coalition government and to exclude Harmony from any coalition, even if it required forming a coalition of five or six parties.[38]

On 7 November 2018, Latvian President Raimonds Vējonis asked Bordāns to form a new coalition government and serve as the next Prime Minister of Latvia.[39] Bordāns intended to form a five-party majority coalition, and he announced that his coalition will not include ZZS, a political alliance led by a Latvian oligarch Aivars Lembergs.[40] However, other political parties wished to cooperate also with ZZS.[41] Consequently, Bordāns did not reach an agreement with the coalition partners, and informed the President that he is unable to form the cabinet.[42]

On 14 November 2018, Development/For!, National Alliance and New Unity pulled out of coalition talks with the New Conservative Party and KPV LV, making a five-way centre-right coalition government infeasible.[43]

After Jānis Bordāns was unsuccessful in negotiating a governing coalition, President Raimonds Vējonis nominated Gobzems as Prime Minister of Latvia on 26 November 2018 and gave him two weeks to form a government.[44][45] A week later, he proposed a coalition that would consist of his Who Owns the State? party along with the New Conservative Party, the National Alliance, the Union of Greens and Farmers, and New Unity, despite the conservatives' objection to the Greens and Farmers' inclusion in government.[46] Fellow Who Owns the State? party leader Artuss Kaimiņš also opposed the inclusion of the Greens and Farmers,[47] leading to a breakdown in talks later in the week. Gobzems then retracted his proposal for the coalition and instead called for a non-partisan cabinet of unnamed "best of the best" industry professionals,[48] a proposal that was nearly immediately rejected by the conservatives, the nationalists, and New Unity on the grounds that it could increase the influence of the Harmony party.[49] Although he had initially called on the president to hold early elections if his proposal were to be rejected, Gobzems instead offered a new four-party coalition that would not include the Union of Greens and Farmers.[50] The president revoked Gobzems' nomination on 10 December 2018.[51][52]

In December it was announced that coalition talks would continue into January.[53]

On 7 January 2019, Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš was tasked by Latvian President Raimonds Vējonis with forming the next government, following the failures of previous nominees Bordans and Gobzems in a contentious negotiation process.[54] Kariņš took office as prime minister on 23 January 2019, leading a broad centre-right coalition of five conservative and liberal parties that includes KPV LV, New Conservative Party, Development/For!, National Alliance and New Unity.

References

  1. ^ "Saeimas vēlēšanas" (in Latvian). Latvian Central Election Committee. Archived from the original on 23 March 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2016. Reizi četros gados, oktobra pirmajā sestdienā, Latvijā norisinās kārtējās parlamenta jeb Saeimas vēlēšanas.
  2. ^ "16 parties will contest Saeima elections". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  3. ^ "President nominates Straujuma to carry on". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  4. ^ Kaža, Juris. "Latvia's Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma Steps Down". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  5. ^ "Government falls as Straujuma resigns". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  6. ^ "President nominates Māris Kučinskis as Prime Minister". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  7. ^ Electoral system IPU
  8. ^ "Kustība Par!, Latvijas attīstībai un Izaugsme ir apvienībā Attīstībai/Par! (Movement For!, For Latvia's Development and Growth are now in the Movement/For! alliance)". Baltic News Network (in Latvian). 20 April 2018. Archived from the original on 29 April 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  9. ^ "13th Saeima elections: The parties (Part 2)". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 14 August 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  10. ^ "Izveidota LSDSP, KDS un GKL apvienība SKG". Diena.lv. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  11. ^ "Izveidota LSDSP/KDS/GKL politisko partiju apvienība – Apvienība SKG". Gods kalpot mūsu Latvijai (in Latvian). Archived from the original on 18 September 2018. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
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  13. ^ "'Jaunajai Vienotībai' pievienojas Jēkabpils reģionālā partija". DELFI (in Latvian). 16 June 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  14. ^ Egle, Ināra (23 May 2018). "Latgales partija ir apjukusi ("The Latgale Party is confused")". Diena. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  15. ^ "New Unity and Latgales party announce joint start at 13th Saeima elections". Baltic News Network. 2 July 2018. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  16. ^ ""Progresīvo" vēlēšanu sarakstā startēs atsevišķi "Latgales partijas" Daugavpils nodaļas pārstāvji". TVNET (in Latvian). Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  17. ^ ""Par!" neiesaistīsies "Vienotības" piedāvātajā apvienībā ar reģionu partijām – Valmieras Ziņas". Valmieras Ziņas (in Latvian). 19 February 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  18. ^ Seven candidates not allowed to run in Saeima elections by Central Election Commission The Baltic Course
  19. ^ "Russian Union leader Ždanoka nixed from Saeima elections". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 21 August 2018. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
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  21. ^ "Jaunās konservatīvās partijas premjera amata kandidāts – Jānis Bordāns – Jaunā konservatīvā partija". Jaunā konservatīvā partija (in Latvian). 4 March 2018. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
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  23. ^ "KPV LV premjera amatam izvirza advokatu Aldi Gobzemu" (in Latvian). 13 May 2018. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
  24. ^ "Regionu apvienibu par savu premjera amata kandidatu izvirza smiltenu" (in Latvian). 19 May 2018. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  25. ^ "13.Saeimas vēlēšanas: Nacionālā apvienība premjera amatam izvirza Robertu Zīli" (in Latvian). 21 May 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
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  27. ^ "Ždanoka may get shot at Saeima elections after all". 30 June 2018. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  28. ^ "'Progressives' party announces Latvian prime ministerial candidate". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 19 June 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  29. ^ Krenberga, Odita; Semjonova, Ella (14 July 2018). ""Attīstībai/Par" premjera amata kandidāts būs Artis Pabriks (precizēts)" (in Latvian). Public Broadcasting of Latvia. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  30. ^ "LZS kongress: Pret bēgļiem, par latvisku izglītību, nē koalīcijai ar "Saskaņu"" (in Latvian). Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  31. ^ ""Saskaņa" apstiprina Matīsa un Papules kandidatūras ministru amatiem" (in Latvian). Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  32. ^ "Nacionālā apvienība nosauc sarakstu līderus Saeimas vēlēšanām" (in Latvian). 26 June 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  33. ^ "Latvian political party Progresīvie to nominate women as candidate list leaders". Baltic News Network. 16 July 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  34. ^ "'Konservatīvie' nāk klajā ar savām Saeimas vēlēšanu lokomotīvēm" (in Latvian). 18 July 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  35. ^ "Partija 'Vienoti Latvijai' nestartēs Saeimas vēlēšanās (United for Latvia will not participate in the Saeima elections)". DELFI (in Latvian). 17 May 2018. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  36. ^ "Aicinājums Latvijas Republikas 13. Saeimas vēlētājiem- darbaļaudīm". Latvijas Sociālistiskā partija. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  37. ^ "Party ratings see support drop for Harmony, grow for newcomers". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 1 October 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  38. ^ Latvian parties’ talks with the president fail to outline a prime minister candidate Baltic News Network, 19 October 2018
  39. ^ "President Raimonds Vējonis on November 7 opted to nominate New Conservative Party leader Jānis Bordāns for the position of prime minister". lsm.lv. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  40. ^ "Bordāns: Panāksim, ka Zaļo un zemnieku savienība paliek opozīcijā". BNN – ZIŅAS AR VĒRTĪBU (in Latvian). 22 October 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  41. ^ Žukova, Katrīna (24 October 2018). "ZZS vieta koalīcijā – uz jautājuma zīmes". delfi.lv (in Latvian). Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  42. ^ "Latvia to look for new PM candidate after cabinet talks fail". reuters.com. 14 November 2018. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  43. ^ PM-designate fails to form Latvia's new government as three parties walk out of talks Xinhua, 14 November 2018
  44. ^ "Gobzems nominated for PM". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 26 November 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
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  46. ^ "Possible shape of Latvian cabinet revealed". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  47. ^ "KPV LV leader objects to having Greens and Farmers Union in cabinet". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 6 December 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  48. ^ "Gobzems proposes government of unelected, unnamed "best of the best"". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 7 December 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  49. ^ ""Jaunā Vienotība" un JKP neredz iespēju turpināt valdības veidošanas sarunas Gobzema vadībā". www.lsm.lv (in Latvian). Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  50. ^ "Gobzems izteicis jaunu valdības veidošanas piedāvājumu; partijas atturīgas". www.lsm.lv (in Latvian). Retrieved 10 December 2018.
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  53. ^ More progress for Latvia’s new government expected in January Baltic News Network, 27 December 2018
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