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2022 Latvian parliamentary election

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2022 Latvian parliamentary election
Latvia
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All 100 seats in the Saeima
51 seats needed for a majority
Turnout59.41% (Increase4.83pp)
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/–
JV Krišjānis Kariņš 19.16 26 +18
ZZS Aivars Lembergs 12.58 16 +5
AS Uldis Pīlēns 11.14 15 New
NA Uģis Mitrevics [lv] 9.40 13 0
ST! Aleksejs Rosļikovs 6.88 11 New
LPV Ainārs Šlesers 6.31 9 New
PRO Kaspars Briškens 6.23 10 +10
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Results by region
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after
Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš
Unity
Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš
Unity
Queue of voters in Riga on election day

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.

Incumbent Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš led his New Unity party and allies to a decisive win in the election which was seen as a decisive victory for pro-Western parties in the country.[1] Karinš went on to form the Second Kariņš cabinet with National Alliance and United List.[2]

Electoral system

[edit]

The 100 members of the Saeima are elected by open list, proportional representation from five multi-member constituencies ranging in size from 12 to 36 seats and based on the regions of Latvia, with overseas votes included in the Riga constituency. Seats are allocated using the Sainte-Laguë method with a national electoral threshold of 5%. Voters may cast "specific votes" for candidates on the list that they have voted for. This involves drawing a plus sign (+) next to the candidate's names to indicate preference (positive votes), or by crossing out names to indicate disapproval (negative votes). The number of votes for each candidate is the number of votes cast for the list, plus their number of positive votes, minus their number of negative votes. The candidates with the highest vote totals fill their party's seats.[3]

Seat redistribution

[edit]

The Central Electoral Commission is required to determine the number of Members of Parliament (MPs) to be elected using the number of eligible voters four months before the election. On 2 June 2022, the Central Electoral Commission has announced the new distribution of MPs. Rīga and Vidzeme constituencies have both gained one seat compared to the 2018 election, while Latgale and Zemgale constituencies have both lost one.[4]

June 2022 redistribution
Constituency Seats Change
Rīga 36 Increase 1
Vidzeme 26 Increase 1
Latgale 13 Decrease 1
Zemgale 13 Decrease 1
Kurzeme 12 Steady
Total 100 Steady

Parties

[edit]
Ballot papers of Riga constituency

Lead candidates

[edit]

Latvia First became the first major party to announce Ainārs Šlesers as its candidate for the position of Prime Minister on 14 August, during the founding congress of the party.[5]

Each of the member parties of the Union of Greens and Farmers proposed their own PM candidate to the party alliance board, and then they would decide on the one candidate for the whole party alliance. The Latvian Farmers' Union nominated MP Viktors Valainis as their candidate,[6] while the Green Party kept its candidate secret.[7] In the end, the Greens left the Union and joined the United List alliance.[8]

Overview

[edit]

The table below lists parties and party alliances represented in the 13th Saeima.[9][10]

Name Ideology PM candidate Leader(s) 2018 result Seats at dissolution
Votes (%) Seats
S Harmony
Saskaņa
Social democracy
Russian minority politics
Ivars Zariņš Jānis Urbanovičs 19.8%
23 / 100
18 / 100
K The Conservatives
Konservatīvie
Liberal conservatism Jānis Bordāns 13.6%
16 / 100
15 / 100
AP! Development/For!
Attīstībai/Par!
Liberalism Artis Pabriks Daniels Pavļuts
Artūrs Toms Plešs
12.0%
13 / 100
14 / 100
NA National Alliance
Nacionālā apvienība
National conservatism
Right-wing populism
Uģis Mitrevics Raivis Dzintars 11.0%
13 / 100
13 / 100
JV New Unity
Jaunā Vienotība
Liberal conservatism Krišjānis Kariņš 6.7%
8 / 100
11 / 100
ZZS Union of Greens and Farmers
Zaļo un zemnieku savienība
Agrarianism
Conservatism
Aivars Lembergs Armands Krauze 9.9%
11 / 100
7 / 100
AS United List
Apvienotais saraksts
Regionalism
Green conservatism
Uldis Pīlēns Edgars Tavars
Edvards Smiltēns
did not exist
4 / 100
R Republic
Republika
Centrism Sandis Ģirģens did not exist
2 / 100
KuK For Each and Every One
Katram un katrai
Right-wing populism Aldis Gobzems did not exist
2 / 100
LPV Latvia First
Latvija pirmajā vietā
Social conservatism Ainārs Šlesers did not exist
2 / 100
SV Sovereign Power
Suverēnā vara
Christian right TBD Jūlija Stepaņenko did not exist
2 / 100
PCL For a Humane Latvia
Par cilvēcīgu Latviju
Right-wing populism
Conservatism
TBD Jurģis Miezainis 14.3%
16 / 100
1 / 100

Competing parties

[edit]

Political parties and party alliances are able to submit their electoral lists to the Central Electoral Commission from 13 July until 2 August.[11] So far, four lists have been submitted to and registered by the CEC.[12]

In the table below, the number in each box indicates the number of candidates standing on the party's electoral list in the indicated constituency. The maximum number of candidates on the electoral list in each constituency equals the number of MPs to be elected plus three.

Party Ideology PM candidate Constituency Date submitted Source
Rīga Vidzeme Latgale Kurzeme Zemgale Total
Development/For! (AP!) Liberalism Centre to centre-right A. Pabriks & M. Golubeva 39 29 16 15 16 115 13 July [13]
For Stability! (S!) Populism Centre Aleksejs Rosļikovs 30 12 10 5 8 65 13 July [14]
Social Democratic Party "Harmony" (S) Social democracy Centre-left Ivars Zariņš 30 16 16 15 10 87 18 July [15]
The Progressives (P) Social democracy[16] Centre-left Kaspars Briškens 39 29 16 15 16 115 20 July [17]
New Unity (JV) Liberal conservatism Centre-right Krišjānis Kariņš 39 29 16 15 16 115 25 July [18]
Latvia First (LPV) Right-wing populism Right-wing Ainārs Šlesers 39 29 16 15 16 115 25 July [20]
United List (AS) Regionalism Centre to centre-right Uldis Pīlēns 39 29 16 15 16 115 26 July [21]
National Alliance (NA) National conservatism Right-wing Uģis Mitrevics 39 29 16 15 16 115 26 July [22]
Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) Agrarianism Centre Aivars Lembergs 39 29 16 15 16 115 27 July [23]
For Each and Every One (KuK) Social conservatism Right-wing Aldis Gobzems 39 29 16 15 16 115 27 July [24]
Latvian Russian Union (LKS) Russian minority politics Centre Miroslavs Mitrofanovs 38 22 16 11 15 102 29 July [25]
Republic (R) Centrism Centre Sandis Ģirģens 39 29 16 15 16 115 29 July [26]
The Conservatives (K) Liberal conservatism Centre-right Jānis Bordāns 39 29 16 15 16 115 29 July [27]
Sovereign Power (SV) Christian right Right-wing Jūlija Stepaņenko[28] 39 24 16 11 10 100 1 August [29]
Force of People's Power (TVS) Conspiracism Far-right Valentīns Jeremejevs 39 28 16 15 16 114 1 August [30]
People's Servants for Latvia (TKL) Populism Centre Edgars Kramiņš 34 17 11 8 12 82 1 August [31]
Union for Latvia (AL) Right-wing populism Right-wing Māris Možvillo 28 20 12 6 7 73 2 August [32]
Progressive Christian Party (KPP) Christian democracy Centre-right Andrejs Krasņikovs 12 4 5 5 5 31 2 August [33]
United for Latvia (VL) Populism Centre-right TBD 10 7 3 4 4 28 2 August [34]
Maximum candidates 39 29 16 15 16 115

Members of the Saeima not standing for re-election

[edit]
List of MPs who announced they will not stand for re-election in 2022
MP Constituency First elected Party Date announced
Mārtiņš Bondars Latgale 2014 AP! 31 May 2022[35]
Inga Goldberga Latgale 2018 S 6 June 2022[36]
Inguna Rībena Zemgale 2002 Ind. 14 June 2022[37]
Reinis Znotiņš Rīga 2018 K 7 July 2022[38]
Vladimirs Nikonovs Latgale 2010 S 18 July 2022[15]
Dagmāra Beitnere-Le Galla Vidzeme 2018 K 21 July 2022[39]
Atis Lejiņš Zemgale 2010 JV 25 July 2022[18]
Janīna Jalinska Latgale 2018 AS 26 July 2022[21]
Ivars Puga Rīga 2018 NA 26 July 2022[22]
Jānis Dūklavs Latgale 2010 ZZS 27 July 2022[23]

Opinion polls

[edit]
Graphical summary

Results

[edit]

The New Unity party of incumbent prime minister Krišjānis Kariņš received the highest percentage of the vote (19%) and won the most seats (26). In a speech after the election, Kariņš stated that Latvia would continue to support Ukraine against Russia and he stated his preference to maintain the current coalition government.[40][41] The Union of Greens and Farmers placed second, receiving 13% of the vote, despite leader Aivars Lembergs being sentenced to five years in prison in 2021 and under sanction by the United States.[42] The other parties which placed above the 5% threshold to receive a seat in parliament were the United List with 11%, the National Alliance with 9.3%, For Stability! with 7%, Latvia First with 6%, and The Progressives, who entered parliament for the first time with 6% of the vote.[42][41]

The wasted vote in this election was 29.09%. Harmony, who had placed first in the previous three general elections, was unable to secure any parliamentary seats, being slightly under the 5% threshold (of all votes, including invalid) with 4.9% of the vote. This has been attributed by many reasons, including internal disputes on the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, pushing away both ethnic Latvians and ethnic Russians. This resulted in much of the ethnic Russian population voting for Stability!, Sovereign Power, and the Latvian Russian Union.[43][42][44] The Development/For! alliance, one of the coalition members, also narrowly missed out the 5% threshold by just 0.03% (with 4.97% of all votes).[41] Another coalition member, the Conservatives, also failed to cross the 5% threshold, receiving 3% of the vote.[42]

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
New Unity173,42519.1926+18
Union of Greens and Farmers113,67612.5816+5
United List100,63111.1415New
National Alliance84,9399.40130
For Stability!62,1686.8811New
Latvia First57,0336.319New
The Progressives56,3276.2310+10
Development/For!45,4525.030–13
Harmony43,9434.860–23
For Each and Every One33,5783.720New
Latvian Russian Union33,2033.6700
Sovereign Power29,6033.280New
The Conservatives28,2703.130–16
Republic16,0881.780New
Force of People's Power10,3501.150New
People's Servants for Latvia9,1761.0200
Union for Latvia2,9850.330–16
United for Latvia1,4130.160New
Progressive Christian Party1,3790.150New
Total903,639100.001000
Valid votes903,63998.61
Invalid/blank votes12,7291.39
Total votes916,368100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,542,40759.41
Source: Central Electoral Commission[45]

By constituency

[edit]
Constituency JV ZZS AS NA S! LPV P
Riga 20.59 5.51 6.91 7.14 9.15 8.59 9.05
Vidzeme 23.46 12.10 12.62 11.39 3.04 5.14 5.95
Latgale 6.97 14.54 5.12 5.78 18.56 6.53 2.46
Zemgale 18.75 19.55 12.42 12.16 3.02 4.56 4.35
Kurzeme 16.44 21.10 22.05 10.25 2.17 4.27 4.80
Total 19.16 12.66 11.00 9.38 6.91 6.31 6.23

Seat distribution

[edit]
Constituency JV ZZS AS NA S! LPV P Total
Riga 11 3 4 4 5 4 5 36
Vidzeme 8 4 5 4 1 2 2 26
Latgale 2 3 1 1 4 1 1 13
Zemgale 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 13
Kurzeme 2 3 3 2 1 1 12
Total 26 16 15 13 11 9 10 100

Aftermath

[edit]

On 3 October 2022, President Egils Levits authorized Kariņš, the incumbent Prime Minister and leader of New Unity, to form a coalition government.[46] New Unity explored coalition options with Union of Greens and Farmers and the Progressives, but they fell though.[47][48] Kariņš formed a government with United List and National Alliance, sworn in on 14 December.[49][50] This government lasted until proposed changes to the make-up of cabinet caused the other parties to pull out and led to Kariņš's resignation as Prime Minister in August 2023. The government was succeeded by a New Unity–Union of Greens and Farmers–Progressives government led by Evika Siliņa, which was sworn in on 14 September 2023.[51]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
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  3. ^ Electoral system Archived 6 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine IPU
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