Latvian Prime Minister’s United List Leads Parliamentary Election

Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs’ centrist United List emerged as the leading party in the country’s parliamentary election, putting him in a strong position to remain in office but leaving him short of a majority.

With 97% of ballots counted, United List had won 35.3% of the vote and 42 seats in the 100-member Saeima, according to Deutsche Welle. The result was described as the largest parliamentary election victory by a single party since Latvia regained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Kulbergs is expected to need at least one coalition partner. Political scientist Roberts Kits told Deutsche Welle that United List could form a majority with either the nationalist National Alliance or the left-leaning Progressives. Exit-poll projections indicated that some of the outgoing government’s coalition partners had performed poorly.

The populist Latvia First party, which courted Latvia’s substantial ethnic Russian minority, was projected to finish second with 11.3%, nearly twice its 2022 share. Kulbergs said he would not cooperate with pro-Russian parties and specifically ruled out a coalition with Latvia First.

The campaign focused on rising living costs and national security amid Russia’s war in Ukraine. Latvia, which borders Russia and Belarus, is a member of NATO and the European Union and has been a strong supporter of Kyiv. Four German Eurofighter jets were deployed to help protect Latvian airspace during the election at Riga’s request.