The decision to start together in the Riga City Council elections turned out to be the right one for several political forces – “For Development / For” together with “Progressive” and the National Union together with the Association of Regions got a convincing result. However, these political forces are not one. Internal competition does not disappear, moreover, the assessment of voters is bad for the largest and oldest parties, which are also represented in the Saeima, concludes the LTV program “de facto”.
For example, the party “Latvijas Attīstība” started in the 2017 local elections together with the Association of Latvian Regions and won 8 of the 9 mandates obtained. In addition, the only representative of the Association of Regions elected at the time, Mārtiņš Bondars, later became a member of Latvijas Attīstība. Now, in the three-member alliance of emergency elections, it has fewer people, but the most – nine seats were won by newcomers and former critics of its current allies – the Progressive party.
In its turn, the National Union, starting in 2017 alone, won almost as many places (six) as this time together with the Association of Latvian Regions (seven), gaining two less places than three years ago – four.
Juris Pūce, the leader of Latvijas Attīstība and co-chairman of the association “For Development / For”, says: “We knew that we had to join forces if we wanted a change of power in Riga. Without the joining of forces, this would not have happened, we would have fragmented, fought each other and lost the big picture. ” However, he, like others in this political force, is reluctant to judge individual results by emphasizing common success.
“It simply came to our notice then. There were our candidates with big pros, there were big cons – it depends on how everyone worked in their campaign, ”said Viesturs Zeps, a member of the board of“ Latvijas Attīstība ”, the newly elected council member from“ Development / About ”and“ Progressive ”.
Until recently, “Development / For” and “Progressive” had disagreements over Mārtiņš Bondars remaining under the leadership of the Saeima Budget Committee, after the court found him complicit in financial irregularities in the case of Latvijas Krājbanka. But in 2018, before the Saeima elections, the Progressive called for co-operation, but said about the Latvian Development Party that co-operation with it would undermine the credibility of the Progressive.
Competitors have already tried to take advantage of these contradictions, and, as they say on the sidelines, the New Conservative Party has urged the Progressive to be more independent in order to form other coalition combinations. Krišjānis Feldmans, a member of the board of the new conservative party, said that he had not participated in such talks and could neither confirm nor deny that they had taken place.
In the association “For Development / For” and “Progressive” both emphasize how disagreements outside Riga City Council are separable. Antonina Nenaševa, co-chair of the Progressive, who was elected to the city council, explained that the overall program of the Riga campaign was therefore written with particular care. At the same time, if the “Progressive” have something to say about what is happening at the national level – in silence. “We do not yet see the need to threaten or trade them, but to use their influence to make national policies more progressive, we will try, of course,” she said.
It would be premature to judge whether “For Development / Par” could start in the Saeima elections together with the “Progressive”. All parties in the council of the council have a common view, for example, on human rights, but not in economic policy. Daniel Pavluts, Co-Chair of Development / For, explained: “We are not so left. Yes, we are in favor of socially responsible politics, but we are definitely not and do not want to call ourselves Social Democrats – “For Development / For”, the “For” movement. “
The National Association “VL-TB / LNNK” and the Association of Latvian Regions are not currently thinking about a possible joint start in the Saeima elections. Raivis Dzintars, the leader of the “Nationals”, admitted that it will depend on the cooperation in the council – “whether we will be able to agree on small things”. According to R. Dzintars, it is more desirable to strengthen the position of the party itself, although at the moment they cannot be completely satisfied with their result in the City Council. “It simply came to our notice then. It could have been better, it could have been worse. The National Union has some stability in the elections, but there is room to grow and there is material for analysis, ”said the head of the National Union.
The Association of Latvian Regions has gained more, and the ambitions of its leader Edvards Smiltēns will have to be taken into account by the National Association. Smiltēns himself points out that already during the pre-election period the internal competition did not disturb him. It will be the task of Einārs Cilinska as its leader to reconcile the interests of both associations in a joint council faction. And although there are risks, especially in the Riga City Council, for various developments, there is no reason to talk about it at the moment.
The motley composition opens up a wide range of maneuvers in this term. Although seven lists have been elected, there will be seven factions respectively, with ten parties.
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