Latvijas Ceļš
| Latvijas Ceļš | |
|---|---|
|
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| Party leader | Ivars Godmanis |
| founding | September 25, 1993 |
| Parliament seats | Par Labu Latviju : 5 out of 100 ( Saeima , 2010) |
| International connections | LI |
| European party | ELDR |
| EP Group | ALDE |
| Website | www.lpplc.lv |
Latvijas Ceļš ( German : Lettlands Weg ; abbreviation: LC) was a political party in Latvia . LC was a member of the Liberal International and the European Liberal Democratic and Reform Party . The LC described itself as a "liberal party that defends the freedom of the individual to shape his life". The last chairman of the party was Ivars Godmanis , who was Latvian Prime Minister from 1990 to 1993 (still for the Latvian Popular Front ) and again from December 2007 until his resignation in February 2009.
Latvian Way was founded on September 25, 1993 by a group of former activists of the Latvian Popular Front and Latvians in exile who returned to Latvia after independence . After its first run in 1993 elections, when the party won 32.4% of the valid votes, the LC led a ruling coalition . As a result, however, their popularity and thus their share of the vote fell to 14.6% (1995) and 18.0% (1998). Despite this, Latvijas Ceļš remained a strong force in Latvian politics and was always part of the ruling coalition until November 2002. Four of its members became Prime Ministers: Valdis Birkavs (1993–1994), Māris Gailis (1994–1995), Vilis Krištopans (1998–1999) and Andris Bērziņš (2000–2002).
In the parliamentary elections on October 5, 2002, Latvijas Ceļš only won 4.9% of the votes and failed to pass the five percent hurdle . After this defeat, some politicians switched to other parties. In the 2004 European elections , LC made up ground again and received 6.4% of the vote. This upward trend continued in the 2006 parliamentary elections, when Latvijas Ceļš won 8.9% and 10 seats in an electoral alliance with the Latvijas Pirmā Partija. In 2007 the two parties united to form the Latvijas Pirmā partija / Latvijas Celš (LPP / LC).
Results of the Latvian parliamentary elections
- Parliamentary election 1993: 32.4% with 36 seats (out of 100) - strongest party in parliament
- Parliamentary election 1995: 14.6% with 17 seats (out of 100)
- Parliamentary election 1998: 18.0% with 21 seats (out of 100)
- Parliamentary elections 2002: 4.9% so 0 seats (out of 100) - 5% threshold missed
- Parliamentary election 2006: 8.9% with 10 seats (out of 100) - in an electoral alliance with the Latvijas Pirmā Partija
- Parliamentary election 2010: 5 seats (out of 100) - as united Latvijas Pirmā partija / Latvijas Celš in the electoral alliance Par Labu Latviju together with Tautas Partija