Latvian parliamentary election, 2002

Parliamentary elections were held in Latvia on 5 October 2002.^[1] The New Era Party emerged as the largest party in the Saeima, winning 26 of the 100 seats.

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
New Era Party	237,452	24.0	26	New
For Human Rights in United Latvia	189,088	19.1	25	+9
People's Party	165,246	16.7	20	–4
Latvia's First Party	94,752	9.6	10	New
Union of Greens and Farmers	93,759	9.5	12	+12
For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK	53,396	5.4	7	–10
Latvian Way	48,430	4.9	0	–21
Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party	39,837	4.0	0	–14
Light of Latgale	15,948	1.6	0	New
Social Democratic Union	15,162	1.5	0	New
Social Democratic Welfare Party	13,234	1.3	0	New
Political Alliance "Centre" ^[a]	5,819	0.6	0	New
Russian Party	4,724	0.5	0	New
Latvians' Party	3,919	0.4	0	New
Latvian Revival Party	2,558	0.3	0	New
Freedom Party	2,075	0.2	0	New
Mara's Land	1,446	0.1	0	New
Citizens' Union "Our Land"	1,349	0.1	0	0
Progressive Centre Party	1,229	0.1	0	New
Latvian United Republican Party	826	0.1	0	New
Invalid/blank votes	7,505	–	–	–
Total	997,754	100	100	0
Registered voters/turnout	1,295,287	77.0	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

^a Political Alliance "Centre" was an alliance of Latvia's Democratic Party, the Workers' Party, For Freedom in Latvia and the Union of Latvian Farmers.^[2]

Aftermath

Voters severely punished the previous governing parties, with the People's Party and For Fatherland and Freedom both losing seats, while Latvian Way lost all its MPs.

A new coalition government was formed by the New Era Party, Latvia's First Party, For Fatherland and Freedom and the Union of Greens and Farmers. This enjoyed a parliamentary majority of 55 of the 100 MPs. However, after two years For Fatherland and Freedom left the coalition and was replaced by the People's Party, who returned to government after a two-year absence.

References

1. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1122 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Nohlen & Stöver, p1135