Latvian parliamentary election, 2014

Latvian parliamentary election, 2014

4 October 2014

All 100 seats in the Saeima 51 seats needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader Nils Ušakovs Laimdota Straujuma Raimonds Vējonis Party Harmony Unity Union of Greens and Farmers Leader since 27 November 2005 Last election 28.36% 18.83% 12.22% Seats before 31 42[lower-alpha 1] 13 Seats won 24 23 21 Seat change 7 19 8 Popular vote 209,887 199,535 178,210 Percentage 23.0% 21.9% 19.5%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Raivis Dzintars Mārtiņš Bondars Inguna Sudraba Party National Alliance Latvian Association of Regions For Latvia from the Heart Leader since 23 July 2011 13 March 2014 5 May 2014 Last election 13.88% New party New party Seats before 14 0 0 Seats won 17 8 7 Seat change 3 8 7 Popular vote 151,567 60,812 62,521 Percentage 16.6% 6.7% 6.9%

Prime Minister before election Laimdota Straujuma Unity Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma Unity

Parliamentary elections were held in Latvia on 4 October 2014. The previous elections were held in 2011, but according to the country's constitution,^[1] the parliamentary term was reduced to only three years following early elections (the 2011 elections took place a year after the 2010 elections).

Campaign

On 27 December 2013, the Reform Party announced an electoral pact with its government coalition partner Unity, with most prominent Reform Party candidates running under the Unity campaign.^[2] On 16 July 2014 the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party signed a cooperation pact with the Latvian Association of Regions to run under the LAR campaign.^[3]

The main party of the Harmony Centre alliance, the Social Democratic Party "Harmony" contested the elections with a separate list, whilst fellow alliance members the Latvian Socialist Party announced on 20 July 2014 that they would not contest the election.^[4]

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Harmony	209,887	23.00	24	–7
Unity	199,535	21.87	23	–19
Union of Greens and Farmers	178,210	19.53	21	+8
National Alliance	151,567	16.61	17	+3
For Latvia from the Heart	62,521	6.85	7	New
Latvian Association of Regions	60,812	6.66	8	New
Latvian Russian Union	14,390	1.58	0	0
United for Latvia	10,788	1.18	0	New
Latvian Development	8,156	0.89	0	New
New Conservative Party	6,389	0.70	0	New
Freedom. Free from Fear, Hate and Anger	1,735	0.19	0	0
Growth	1,515	0.17	0	New
Sovereignty	1,033	0.11	0	New
Invalid/blank votes	6,953	–	–	–
Total	913,491	100	100	0
Registered voters/turnout	1,552,235	58.85	–	–
Source: CVK

Aftermath

Following the elections, a coalition government was formed by Unity, the Union of Greens and Farmers and the National Alliance. However, the government resigned on 7 December 2015.

Notes

1. Combined total for Unity and the Reform Party, as the Reform Party ran as part of the Unity list.

References

1. Article 13 of the Constitution of Latvia
2. 'Vienotība' un RP vienojas par kopīgu startu 12.Saeimas vēlēšanās, LETA, 27 December 2013, accessed 21 September 2014
3. LSDSP un Latvijas Reģionu apvienība kopā startē Saeimas vēlēšanās Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party (Latvian)
4. Latvijas Sociālistiskās partijas XVII kongress Latvijas Sociālistiskās partijas (Latvian)