Editing Politics of Latvia (section)

==Political developments since independence==
On March 19, 1991, the Supreme Council passed a law explicitly guaranteeing "equal rights to all nationalities and ethnic groups" and "guarantees to all permanent residents in the Republic regardless of their nationality, equal rights to work and wages." The law also prohibits "any activity directed toward nationality discrimination or the promotion of national superiority or hatred."

In autumn 1992 Latvia re-implemented significant portions of its 1922 constitution and in spring 1993 the government took a census to determine eligibility for citizenship. After almost three years of deliberations, Latvia finalized a citizenship and naturalization law in summer 1994.

In the 5–6 June 1993 elections, with a turnout of over 90%, eight of Latvia's 23 registered political parties passed the four per cent threshold to enter parliament. The Popular Front, which spearheaded the drive for independence two years previously with a 75% majority in the last parliamentary elections in 1990, did not qualify for representation. The centrist [[Latvian Way]] party received a 33% plurality of votes and joined with the Farmer's Union to head a centre-right coalition government.

Led by the opposition [[Latvian National Independence Movement (LNNK)|National Conservative Party]], right-wing nationalists won a majority of the seats nationwide and also captured the [[Riga]] mayoralty in the 29 May 1994 municipal elections. [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe|OSCE]] and COE observers pronounced the elections free and fair, and turnout averaged about 60%. In February 1995, the Council of Europe granted Latvia membership.

With [[Bill Clinton|President Bill Clinton's]] assistance, on 30 April 1994 Latvia and Russia signed a troop withdrawal agreement. Russia withdrew its troops by 31 August 1994 but maintained several hundred technical specialists to staff an OSCE-monitored phased-array [[Anti-ballistic missile|ABM]] radar station at Skrunda until 31 August 1998.

The 30 September-1 October 1995 elections produced a deeply fragmented parliament with nine parties represented and the largest party – the newly founded centrist [[Democratic Party "Saimnieks"]] – commanding only 18 of 100 seats. Attempts to form right-of-centre and left-wing governments failed; 7 weeks after the election, a broad but fractious coalition government of six of the nine parties was voted into office under Prime Minister [[Andris Šķēle]], a nonpartisan businessman. The also-popular president, [[Guntis Ulmanis]], had limited constitutional powers but played a key role in leading the various political forces to agree finally to this broad coalition. In June 1996, the Saeima re-elected Ulmanis to another 3-year term. In the summer of 1997, the daily newspaper ''Diena'' revealed that half the cabinet ministers and two-thirds of parliamentarians appeared to violate the 1996 anti-corruption law, which bars senior officials from holding positions in private business. Under pressure from Šķēle, several ministers subsequently resigned or were fired. However, after months of increasing hostility between Šķēle and leading coalition politicians, the coalition parties demanded and received the prime minister's resignation on 28 July. The new government was formed by the recent Minister of Economy [[Guntars Krasts]]. It included the same parties and mostly the same ministers as Šķēle's government. It pursued the same course of reform, albeit not as vigorously.

In the 1998 elections, the Latvian party structure began to consolidate with only six parties winning seats in the Saeima. Andris Šķēle's newly formed [[People's Party (Latvia)|People's Party]] garnered a plurality with 24 seats. Though the election represented a victory for the centre-right, personality conflicts and scandals within the two largest right of centre parties – [[Latvian Way]] and the [[People's Party (Latvia)|People's Party]] – prevented stable coalitions from forming. Two shaky governments under [[Vilis Krištopans]] and Andris Šķēle quickly collapsed in less than a year. In May 2000, a compromise candidate was found in the form of Andris Bērziņš, the [[Latvian Way]] mayor of Rīga. His four-party coalition government lasted till the next elections in 2002.

In 1999, the Saeima elected [[Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga]], a compromise candidate with no party affiliation, to the presidency.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Steven C. |url=https://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/2007/ |title=Political outsider elected Latvian president |date=1 July 1999 |publisher=[[The Baltic Times]] |access-date=24 October 2002 |archive-date=22 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110122155336/http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/2007/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Though born in Rīga in 1937, she settled in Canada during the years of the Soviet occupation, becoming a well-respected academic in the subject of Latvian culture. Since her election, she has become one of the most popular political figures in Latvia.

Local elections in 2001 represented a victory for the left-of-center parties in several municipalities, including Rīga. A leftist coalition in the Rīga City Council elected [[Gundars Bojārs]], a Social Democrat, to the office of mayor.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Raubiško |first=Ieva |url=http://www.ce-review.org/01/13/latvianews13.html |title=Riga's Social Democrat mayor seeks coalition |date=24 March 2001 |publisher=[[Central Europe Review]] |access-date=24 October 2002 |archive-date=15 November 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021115050034/http://www.ce-review.org/01/13/latvianews13.html |url-status=usurped }}</ref>

Between local elections in 2001 and Saeima elections in 2002, two new parties formed: the conservative [[New Era Party]] led by [[Einars Repše]] and Christian Democratic [[Latvia's First Party]]. Both of them promised to fight corruption and made that the most important issue in the 2002 elections. Six parties were elected to Saeima in 2002 elections. [[New Era Party]] with 26 seats out of 100 became the largest party in the parliament. Several previously successful parties such as [[Latvian Way]] and the Social Democrats did not reach the 5% threshold of the popular vote needed to be in the parliament. This was mostly due to voters perceiving these parties as corrupt. After elections, Einars Repše formed a government consisting of his [[New Era Party]] and three other parties.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Auers |first=Daunis |url=https://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/7214/ |title=Repse's team: coalition or collapse |date=14 November 2002 |publisher=[[The Baltic Times]] |access-date=24 October 2004 |archive-date=5 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190105200959/https://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/7214/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2003, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga was re-elected to the presidency for the second term, until 2007.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/vike-freiberga-re-elected-as-latvian-president-1.483611 |title=Vike-Freiberga re-elected as Latvian president |date=20 June 2003 |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |access-date=24 October 2004 |archive-date=5 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190105201230/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/vike-freiberga-re-elected-as-latvian-president-1.483611 |url-status=live }}</ref> On 20 September 2003, Latvia voted to join the European Union in a [[2003 Latvian European Union membership referendum|referendum]]. Virtually all of the major political parties and major Latvian-language media supported the 'YES' vote. Latvian government also spent a significant amount of money for the 'YES' campaign. The 'NO' campaign lacked both funding and media access. Out of voters who participated in the referendum, 66.9% of cast votes in favour of EU. The vote was largely along the ethnic lines. It is estimated that 84% of ethnic Latvians voted 'YES', while 91% of ethnic Russians voted 'NO'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.policy.lv/index.php?id=102756&lang=en|title=policy.lv|website=www.policy.lv|access-date=2006-01-12|archive-date=2004-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041027093255/http://www.policy.lv/index.php?id=102756&lang=en}}</ref>

After the referendum, Repše's government started to fall apart and he eventually resigned in January 2004. A new government, led by [[Indulis Emsis]], head of the conservative [[Union of Greens and Farmers]] (ZZS) was approved by the parliament in March 2004. The government was a coalition of the ZZS, the [[People's Party (Latvia)|People's Party]] (TP), and the [[Latvia's First Party]] (LPP); the coalition had only 46 out of 100 seats in Latvia's parliament, but was also supported by the leftist [[National Harmony Party]] (TSP).  After the Saeima did not accept the budget for 2005 proposed by the government of Indulis Emsis, the government resigned. On 2 December 2004, [[Aigars Kalvītis]] became the new prime minister and thus head of the government.

Kalvītis was the first prime minister in the history of post-soviet independent Latvia whose government was reelected by an election in 2006. New Era Party, however, weakened, so a coalition reshuffle took place, and a 4-party centre-right coalition emerged. The government lasted only until 5 December 2007, when Kalvitis resigned<ref>{{Cite news |last=Collier |first=Mike |url=https://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/19253/ |title=NEWS FLASH: Kalvitis to quit on Dec 5 |date=8 November 2007 |publisher=[[The Baltic Times]] |access-date=28 February 2009 |archive-date=12 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412183046/https://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/19253/ |url-status=live }}</ref> due to his continuous and unsuccessful attempts to dismiss [[Aleksejs Loskutovs]], the head of [[Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB)|KNAB]], the State Anti-Corruption Agency, after Loskutovs had investigated shadowy matters of the PM's party.

After negotiations, a "crisis-handling" government was formed, with the participation of the same parties, led by former PM [[Ivars Godmanis]], a respectable public figure, and member of [[Latvian Way]]. The government tried to impose [[austerity]] measures, with moderate success. This was accompanied, though, with a widespread public opposition, which resulted in two referendums, one on [[2008 Latvian pensions law referendum|pensions]], the other on [[2008 Latvian constitutional referendum|constitutional amendments]], which would have allowed the electorate to initiate the dissolution of the parliament.

Both of the referendums failed,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cvk.lv/cvkserv/TN_2008_1/rez/rezultati.htm |title=Tautas nobalsošana par Satversmes grozījumiem |access-date=2009-02-27 |archive-date=2008-08-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828203328/http://www.cvk.lv/cvkserv/TN_2008_1/rez/rezultati.htm }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tn2008.cvk.lv/report-results.html |title=:: CVK » Tautas nobalsošana 23.08.2008. » Provizoriskie rezultāti |access-date=2009-02-27 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20080828030622/http://www.tn2008.cvk.lv/report-results.html |archive-date=2008-08-28 }}</ref> but the country entered into the worst political crisis since the independence from the [[Soviet Union]], together with the economic situation severely deteriorating, due to the world financial crisis. The popularity of the governing parties melted and was below the parliamentary threshold. By the end of 2008, parties had a hard time agreeing on further budget cuts, (mainly in the social sphere) the planned reorganization of the government, and layoffs.

On 13 January 2009, there were [[2009 Riga riot|severe riots in Riga]], with protesters attacking the building of the parliament. The President [[Valdis Zatlers]] gave an ultimatum to parties, saying that should they not agree on constitutional amendments about the dissolution of the [[Saeima]], he would dissolve the parliament by the end of March.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McIntosh |first=Kate |url=http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/22150/ |title=Zatlers issues ultimatum to government |date=21 January 2009 |publisher=[[The Baltic Times]] |access-date=27 February 2009 |archive-date=24 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090124122743/http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/22150/ |url-status=live }}</ref> After background talks and a failed [[vote of no confidence]], PM Ivars Godmanis chose to resign in late February.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lannin |first=Patrick |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-latvia-government/latvian-government-falls-president-seeks-new-pm-idUSTRE51J4G920090220 |title=Latvian government falls, president seeks new PM |date=20 February 2009 |work=[[Reuters]] |access-date=27 February 2009 |archive-date=5 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190105201543/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-latvia-government/latvian-government-falls-president-seeks-new-pm-idUSTRE51J4G920090220 |url-status=live }}</ref> On the 26 February, Zatlers nominated the candidate of [[New Era Party]], [[Member of the European Parliament|MEP]] [[Valdis Dombrovskis]] to the post of prime minister.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Petrova |first=Alla |url=http://www.baltic-course.com/eng2/legislation/?doc=10343 |title=Valdis Dombrovskis nominated as Latvia's prime minister |date=26 January 2009 |publisher=[[The Baltic Course]] |access-date=27 February 2009 |archive-date=21 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211121103451/http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/legislation/?doc=10343 |url-status=live }}</ref> After talks, on 4 March 2009 five parties confirmed their participation in the coalition: New Era, People's Party, Union of Greens and Peasants, [[For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK]], and Civic Union.

In [[2010 Latvian parliamentary election|2010 parliamentary election]] ruling centre-right coalition won 63 out of 100 parliamentary seats. Left-wing opposition [[Harmony Centre]] supported by Latvia's Russian-speaking minority got 29 seats.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-11460358|title=Latvia's ruling centre-right coalition wins elections|work=BBC News |date=October 3, 2010|access-date=March 27, 2021|archive-date=July 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729113428/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-11460358|url-status=live}}</ref> In [[2014 Latvian parliamentary election|2014 parliamentary election]] was won again by the ruling centre-right coalition formed by the [[Unity (Latvia)|Unity]] Party, the [[National Alliance (Latvia)|National Alliance]] and the [[Union of Greens and Farmers]]. They got 61 seats and Harmony got 24.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29504093|title=Latvia election: Coalition keeps strong Russian party out|work=BBC News |date=October 6, 2014|access-date=March 27, 2021|archive-date=June 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210604131957/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29504093|url-status=live}}</ref> In [[2018 Latvian parliamentary election|2018 parliamentary election]] pro-Russian [[Social Democratic Party "Harmony"|Harmony]] (former Harmony Centre) was again the biggest party securing 23 out of 100 seats. the second and third were the populist [[KPV LV]] and [[New Conservative Party (Latvia)|New Conservative Party]]. Ruling coalition, comprising the Union of Greens and Farmers, the National Alliance and the Unity party, lost.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45774578|title=Pro-Russia party wins Latvia election but tough talks loom|work=BBC News |date=October 8, 2018|access-date=March 27, 2021|archive-date=June 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608194609/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45774578|url-status=live}}</ref>

In November 2013, Latvian prime minister [[Valdis Dombrovskis]], in office since 2009, resigned after at least 54 people were killed and dozens injured in the [[Zolitūde shopping centre roof collapse|collapse at a supermarket]] in Riga.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-latvia-supermarket-collapse-prime-minister-resigns-20131127-story.html|title=Latvia's prime minister resigns over deadly supermarket collapse|date=November 27, 2013|website=Los Angeles Times|access-date=March 27, 2021|archive-date=June 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625192313/https://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-latvia-supermarket-collapse-prime-minister-resigns-20131127-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In December 2015, country's first female prime minister, in office since January 2014, [[Laimdota Straujuma]] resigned.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/latvias-premier-laimdota-straujuma-steps-down-1449480185|title=Latvia's Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma Steps Down|first=Juris|last=Kaža|newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=December 5, 2015|via=www.wsj.com|access-date=March 27, 2021|archive-date=June 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625184711/https://www.wsj.com/articles/latvias-premier-laimdota-straujuma-steps-down-1449480185|url-status=live}}</ref> In February 2016, a coalition of  Union of Greens and Farmers, The Unity and National Alliance was formed by new prime minister [[Maris Kucinskis]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-latvia-pm-idUSKCN0VK12A|title=Latvia parliament approves PM Maris Kucinskis new government|newspaper=Reuters |date=February 11, 2016|via=www.reuters.com|access-date=March 27, 2021|archive-date=June 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625185828/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-latvia-pm-idUSKCN0VK12A|url-status=live}}</ref> In January 2019, Latvia got a government led by new prime minister [[Krisjanis Karins]] of the centre-right New Unity.  Karins' coalition was formed by five of the seven parties in parliament, excluding only the pro-Russia Harmony party and the Union of Greens and Farmers.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-latvia-politics-idUSKCN1PH1OD|title=Latvia's Karins confirmed as PM, ending lengthy political deadlock|newspaper=Reuters |date=January 23, 2019|via=www.reuters.com|access-date=March 27, 2021|archive-date=June 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625190609/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-latvia-politics-idUSKCN1PH1OD|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 15 September 2023, [[Evika Siliņa]] became the new prime minister of Latvia, following  resignation of former prime minister Krišjānis Kariņš previous month. Siliņa’s government is  a three-party coalition between her own [[New Unity]] (JV) party, the Greens and Farmers Union (ZZS), and the social-democratic Progressives (PRO) with total 52 of 100 seats in the [[2022 Latvian parliamentary election]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Evika Siliņa is Latvia's new prime minister |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/evika-silina-is-latvias-new-prime-minister/ |work=POLITICO |date=15 September 2023 |language=en}}</ref> Harmony,  the former largest political party in the [[Saeima]], lost all its seats. Some  former Harmony supporters appeared to support for a new Eurosceptic populist party, [[For Stability!]], that split from Harmony in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-10-06 |title=Latvia: decisive election gains for pro-western parties |url=https://lens.civicus.org/latvia-decisive-election-gains-for-pro-western-parties/ |access-date=2023-12-29 |website=CIVICUS LENS |language=en-US}}</ref>