Latvia has held elections to its 15th Saeima, the country’s parliament. With all votes counted, the United List (AS) has secured a decisive victory, winning 41 seats. This is the highest number of seats won by any political party or alliance in a parliamentary election since Latvia restored its independence. By comparison, Latvian Way won 36 seats in 1993, Unity won 33 in 2010, and Harmony won 31 in the 2011 snap election. Meanwhile, turnout in the election to the 15th Saeima was the lowest since the restoration of independence: only 51.8% of voters participated this year. As of late Sunday morning, votes remained uncounted in only around twenty postal voting commissions, while the counting of plus and minus marks cast for individual candidates still had to be completed at a slightly larger number of polling stations.
Preliminary results indicate that only six parties have secured representation in the next Saeima, with the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) finishing closest to, but below, the 5% electoral threshold.
With vote counting virtually complete, AS has received 35.3% of the vote. Latvia First (LPV) is in second place with 13.1%, followed by the Sovereign Power/Young Latvians Alliance (SV/AJ) with 11.71%. The National Alliance (NA) received 8.9%, the Progressives 7.88%, and New Unity (JV) 6.36%. Accordingly, AS will hold 41 seats in the Saeima, LPV 17, SV/AJ 15, NA 10, the Progressives 10, and JV seven.
The other eight parties contesting the election failed to cross the electoral threshold. ZZS received 4.4% of the vote, We Are Changing the Rules received 3.43%, and For Latvia’s Development received 2.18%. These parties will be eligible to apply for state funding, having secured more than 2% of the vote.
For Stability fell just below the 2% threshold with 1.99% support. Rising Sun for Latvia (ASL) received 1.33%, Gobzems’ List 0.98%, Harmony Centre 0.82%, and the New Conservative Party 0.33%. All of these parties except ASL had previously received state funding.