Latvian prime minister’s party takes 41 seats in preliminary result

With 88% of votes counted in Latvia’s parliamentary election, Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs’s centrist United List had 36.6%, well ahead of its rivals, ANP/Reuters reported on Sunday in a dispatch carried by Nieuws.nl. The vote took place on Saturday, 3 October. [1]

The right-wing populist Latvia First stood at 13.4%, followed by the pro-Russian Sovereign Power on 11.6%. Security featured prominently in the campaign: Kulbergs wants to continue support for Ukraine, strengthen drone defences and keep defence spending at 5% of GDP, while Sovereign Power wants Latvian aid to Ukraine to end. [1]

Kulbergs said he was surprised by the scale of United List’s lead and hoped to remain prime minister. He ruled out working with Latvia First, although his party will need coalition partners for a majority. [1]

The count was still incomplete when the figures were reported, leaving the final seat allocation and the make-up of the next government undecided. [1]

Update

Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs’s centrist United List has taken 41 of the 100 seats in Latvia’s parliament, according to preliminary election results reported by ANP/DPA. That puts it 10 seats short of an outright majority. [2]

ANP/DPA describes the tally as the best result for a party in a Latvian parliamentary election since the country regained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. [2]