Conservative Andris Kulbergs wins general election in Latvia

The official victory of the conservative United List, led by the outgoing prime minister Andris Kulbergs, who has surprised with a successful campaign, places him as the future leader of the Latvian Executive, after winning the day before with a very large majority in the general elections of the Baltic country. Now everything points to a pro-European coalition favorable to the interests of Ukraine in a country in which the weight of the Russian-speaking minority is more than considerable.

With almost 100% of the tables counted, the Kulbergs party wins with 35.3% of the votes and 42 seats. The victory is overwhelming: it more than doubles the votes of the populist and national-conservative party Latvia First, which obtained 13.1% and 17 deputies, in an appointment with the polls in which some 1.5 million Latvians were summoned and which had a participation of just under 52%.

The social-conservative group Sovereign Power/New Latvians appears as the third most voted force, with 11.7%, reaching 15 seats. It is followed by the national-conservative National Alliance, which obtains eleven representatives in Congress, with 8.9%. The Progressive social democrats were relegated as the fifth political party, adding only 7.8%, which is granted to them by nine deputies. And the centrist New Unity, which, with 6.3%, has seven seats in Parliament.

During the campaign, Kulbergs has anticipated the possibility of governing with clear priorities in the Executive. “In the new Government, if I have the opportunity to lead it, the first thing (to do) is certainly the budget,” said the prime minister, in statements reported by Latvia's public radio and television. With his victory, Kulbergs has secured the task of the Latvian president, Edgars Rinkevics, to form a government coalition.

For Kulbergs and his party, these results are a great success: it has more than improved the result achieved in the previous elections, held in 2022, when the party remained at 11.1%.

"Six months ago, the United List was a long way from where it is now. It only saw a spike in its popularity ratings when Kulbergs became prime minister," says Janis Ikstens, a professor at the University of Latvia.

Kulbergs had just headed an interim coalition formed after the collapse of the government of the previous prime minister, Evika Silina, of the centrist New Unity. Silina resigned in May following her decision to dismiss then Defense Minister, Social Democrat Andris Spruds, after an errant drone from the Russo-Ukrainian war hit empty fuel tanks in the town of Rezekne, in eastern Latvia.

Silina's party, which had just won the elections four years ago, in which it obtained 19.2% of the votes, was forced to adopt a modest role this Saturday. “We did not raise taxes” but “that has also had a cost,” Silina said of his management, who acknowledged that there were “complicated negotiations within the coalition and, perhaps, the population has been left with the feeling that there were many discussions.”