Ethnic Russians key in Latvia vote
RIGA, Latvia — Latvians voted in a parliamentary election Saturday in which a party catering to the Baltic nation’s large ethnic Russian minority is expected to win the most support but have trouble forming a coalition government.
Voters in Latvia, which is a member of the European Union and NATO, chose from more than 1,400 candidates and 16 parties to fill the country’s 100-seat parliament.
Polls closed at 8 p.m. but voting was continuing at selected sites in North America for several more hours. Preliminary results will be announced today.
The left-leaning Harmony party, which is favored by ethnic Russians, was expected to secure the most votes.
Members of the Russian minority account for about 25 percent of Latvia’s nearly 2 million people, a legacy of nearly 50 years of Soviet occupation that ended in 1991.
The Harmony party is the country’s largest with 24 seats but it has been shunned by Latvian parties over suspicions of being too cozy with Moscow, despite its pro-EU stance.
Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis’ centrist Union of Greens and Farmers was expected to end up in second place. Since 2016, Kucinskis has led a three-party governing coalition with the conservative National Alliance and the liberal Unity parties.
Observers say it is unlikely that Harmony, led by Nils Usakovs, who has been mayor of Riga, the capital, since 2009, would team up with Kucinskis’ party in a coalition because of substantial policy differences.
After casting his vote in Riga, Usakovs predicted the election would bring a political breakthrough for his party.
“After these elections, there will be changes, and people will be proud that there are no more nationalists in charge,” Usakovs was quoted as saying by the Baltic News Service.
Other parties in the election included the populist KPV party led by Artuss Kaimins, an actor-turned-lawmaker, which some opinion polls suggest may come in third. The New Conservative Party has a strong anti-corruption platform but has struggled to gain support.
Some Latvians were optimistic about the results of the vote. They included Evalds, a 75-year-old voter in Riga who would not give his last name — not an unusual demand from someone who spent years under Soviet occupation.
“We’re expecting changes. We need patience with the 16 [competing parties],” Evalds said. “The parliament of Latvia and our country will be a good example for Europe, a smart nation and a civil society.” Others disagreed. “There will be no changes in the parliament, because every year the main force is the coalition, and the parliament consists of the same people every single year,” Igors, a 37-year-old railroad worker, said. He also did not want to give his last name.