Latvian Prime Minister's Pro-European Party Clearly Wins Parliamentary Election

The pro-European party of Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs surprisingly won the parliamentary elections in Latvia. With 35.4 percent of the votes, the United List electoral alliance emerged as the clear winner of the vote, as data from the electoral commission in Riga showed after counting the information from 94 percent of all polling stations. This meant that the center-right alliance was able to more than triple its result compared to the previous election.

Populist forces also made strong gains in the election, which was dominated by concerns about national security and socio-political problems. The second strongest force is the Latvia party in first place (13.2 percent) ahead of Sovereign Power (11.8 percent). Both are likely to have scored particularly well with voters from the Russian minority. Behind them are the left-wing progressives (7.4 percent).

Only two coalition partners get more than five percent

Of Kulbergs' previous three coalition partners, only two made it into parliament: the national-conservative National Alliance (9.1 percent) and the liberal-conservative Jauna Vienotiba (6.2 percent). In total, six of the 14 parties and electoral alliances will be represented in the Saeima parliament. According to previous information, voter turnout was 51.8 percent.

The 47-year-old Kulbergs had focused on the issue of security during the election campaign. He promised to keep defense spending at five percent of gross domestic product, one of the highest levels in NATO. His pro-Russian competitors, on the other hand, called for an end to aid to Ukraine and to instead focus more on the rising cost of living.

The large Russian-speaking minority in the Baltic state is divided in its attitude to the war. Kulbergs only came to power in May after the previous coalition collapsed over a dispute over how to deal with stray military drones.