Latvian legislators were set to initiate discussions on Sunday to establish a new government post a parliamentary election where Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs’s four-party coalition, supportive of Ukraine, secured 35 percent of the total vote. A crisis in May revolving around the management of stray drones, suspected to be from Ukraine, led to the collapse of the existing governing coalition, paving the way for the approval of Kulbergs’s coalition by the parliament, known as Saeima.
Latvia, in alignment with its Baltic counterparts Lithuania and Estonia, stands firmly behind Ukraine in its resistance against Moscow’s incursion, given its proximity to both Russia and the Moscow-affiliated Belarus. The recent election, held amid mounting concerns about potential Russian hostilities on NATO’s eastern border, recorded a voter turnout exceeding 51 percent. The eligible electorate, encompassing over 1.56 million individuals in the nation of more than 1.8 million, was tasked with selecting the 100 members of the single-chamber Saeima for a four-year tenure.
The United List party is anticipated to secure 42 parliamentary seats, necessitating a multi-party coalition to navigate the fragmented political scenario. Parties must garner a minimum of five percent of the vote to secure parliamentary representation.
