A pro-Russia party has won the most votes in Latvia following Saturday's general election.
The Harmony party polled 19% with the pro-EU For Development party taking 12% and two populist parties, the KPV LV and the New Conservatives winning 27% between them.
In the past, parties have formed pacts to keep Harmony out of government.
Commentators say Harmony might now be able to form a government if it joins forces with the populist parties.
It will hold 24 seats in the 100-seat parliament, with the New Conservatives on 16 and KPV LV on 15.
"No coalition combination is possible without Harmony that would appear able and stable," Nils Ushakovs, Harmony chairman and mayor of the capital Riga told the Leta news agency.
Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis's governing coalition comprising the Union of Greens and Farmers, the National Alliance and the Unity party only won about 27%.
Their support was hit by public dissatisfaction over the fight against corruption and money-laundering - both key campaign issues.
Latvia shares a border with Russia and about a quarter of its 2.2 million population is Russian-speaking.
The Baltic state is a member of both Nato and the EU putting it on the front line of the increasingly tense relationship between the West and Moscow.
Nato has more than 1,000 troops in the country.
Harmony has said it wants Latvia to stay in the EU and Nato but to have closer economic ties with Russia.
Coalition talks could now last for several weeks.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45774578
1 comment:
Michael Hudson has written extensively on how neoliberalism has ravaged Latvia, causing a mass exodus of Latvia’s population.
Latvia has spent most of the last ten years with a trade deficit. On 1 Jan 2014 Latvia adopted the euro currency. As a result of these two factors, Latvia has had ever-increasing debt and austerity.
The Harmony Party is euro-skeptic, and (correctly) says that the euro is killing Latvia.
Therefore the bankers and neoliberals call them “pro-Russian.” In France and Italy, the bankers and neoliberals call euro-skeptics “Nazis.”
Lithuania is in the same boat. They too have a trade deficit, and they adopted the euro on 1 Jan 2015.
In both nations, much of the population longs for the days of the USSR. Their situation was not very good, but it was better than it is now.
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