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Alfrēds Rubiks

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Alfrēds Rubiks
Rubiks in 2014
Member of the European Parliament
In office
2009–2014
ConstituencyLatvia
First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia
In office
7 April 1990 – 24 August 1991
Preceded byJānis Vagris
Member of the 28th Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
In office
13 June 1990 – 6 November 1991
Chairman of the Riga City Executive Committee
In office
1984–1990
Preceded byMečislavs Dubra [lv; ru]
Succeeded byAndrejs Inkulis [lv]
Personal details
Born (1935-09-24) 24 September 1935 (age 89)
Daugavpils, Latvia
Political partyCommunist Party of the Soviet Union (1958—1991)
Socialist Party of Latvia (since 1999)
Other political
affiliations		European United Left/Nordic Green Left
ChildrenRaimonds Rubiks (1963), Artūrs Rubiks (1970)
Parent
  • Pēteris Rubiks (father)
Alma materRiga Polytechnic Institute (1963), Leningrad Higher Party School (1980)
Professionmechanical engineer

Alfrēds Rubiks (Russian: Альфред Петрович Рубикс, Alfred Petrovich Rubiks; born 24 September 1935), is a Latvian communist politician and a former leader of the Communist Party of Latvia. He was a Member of the European Parliament for Latvia from 2009 until 2014. In the European Parliament he was a member of the European United Left–Nordic Green Left group.

Due to his former allegiance with the Communist Party of Latvia after January 1991, Rubiks is prohibited from running for an electable office in Latvia under Latvian law.[1] His two sons Artūrs Rubiks and Raimonds Rubiks are also politicians and members of the Saeima for Harmony.

Biography

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Rubiks served as the Chairman of the city of Riga from 1984 to 1990, effectively the last Communist mayor of the city. He was a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from July 1990 until the party was banned on November 6, 1991. As head of the Communist Party of Latvia in 1991 he opposed Latvia's independence from the Soviet Union and issued a list of Latvian pro-independence politicians to be arrested but on 23 August 1991 was imprisoned himself[2] for his role in attempting to overthrow the then new democratic government and supporting the August 1991 coup d'état attempt in Moscow.[3][4] Despite his incarceration, Rubiks was nominated as a candidate in the 1996 Latvian presidential election by the Socialist Party, but lost to incumbent Guntis Ulmanis.[5] Rubiks was released in November 1997 for good behaviour,[6] and became chairman of the Socialist Party of Latvia, the de facto successor to the Communist Party, in 1999. In a 2000 poll, Rubiks was ranked the least popular politician in Latvia with a score of -22.4 points.[further explanation needed][7]

He was elected a Member of the European Parliament in the 2009 European Parliament elections as one of the two reprentatives of the political alliance Harmony Centre.[8] In 2012, Rubiks distributed his biography "From Political Prisoner to European Parliament Member" to all EP members, drawing criticism from other MEPs from Latvia for the claims made in the book.[9] In 2015, after the Socialist Party of Latvia lost in the 2014 European Parliament election, he resigned as its chairman. In 2019, along with Nils Ušakovs he was removed from the board of Harmony Centre.[10]

References

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  1. ^ Näf, Kaspar (June 11, 2009). "The European elections strengthened Russians of Latvian" (in Estonian). Postimees. Retrieved June 11, 2009.
  2. ^ Hiltzik, Michael A. (5 October 1991). "Latvia Party Chief Put His Money on Wrong Horse: Baltics: On the day of the coup, Alfreds Rubiks issued a list of pro-independence politicians he wanted arrested. Four days later, he found himself in a cell". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 April 2008.
  3. ^ Grāvītis, Mārtiņš (18 January 2001). "INTERVIEW-Latvia's last communist boss remains "true believer"". Reuters. Retrieved 8 April 2008.
  4. ^ Latvian Communist Jailed For Coup Role The Spokesman-Review. 28 July 1995
  5. ^ The other presidential election – Latvia | Contemporary Review | Find Articles at BNET.com
  6. ^ "Latvia Releases Rubiks". Vol. 3, no. 208. Jamestown Foundation. 6 October 1997. Retrieved 8 April 2008.
  7. ^ "President most popular politician in Latvia". The Baltic Times. LETA. 16 March 2000. Retrieved 8 April 2008.
  8. ^ "Right, Center parties win EP elections". The Baltic Times. LETA. 10 June 2009. Retrieved 11 June 2009.
  9. ^ Petrova, Alla (5 December 2012). "Rubiks circulates his biography in EP; Kalniete and Godmanis refute Rubiks' claims". The Baltic Course. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  10. ^ "Politicians Ušakovs and Rubiks removed from the board of Harmony Centre". Baltic News Network. 4 October 2019. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
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