Parliamentary election in Latvia 2018

← 2014Parliamentary election in Latvia 2018

Turnout: 54.6%

 %

20th

10

0

19.8

14.3

13.6

12.1

11

9.9

6.7

4.1

8.5

SDPS

KPV

JKP

A / P ^d

N / A

ZZS

V ^g

LRA

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to 2014

 % p

 16

 14th

 12

 10

   8th

   6th

   4th

   2

   0

  -2

  -4

  -6

  -8th

-10

-12

-14

-16

-3.2

+14.3

+13.6

+11.2

-5.5

-9.6

-15.2

-2.6

+1.6

SDPS

KPV

JKP

A / P ^d

N / A

ZZS

V ^g

LRA

Otherwise.

Remarks:

^d 2014: LA

^g 2018: in the electoral alliance Jaunā Vienotība (New Unity)

Distribution of seats in the Latvian Parliament

       

A total of 100 seats

• SDPS : 23
• A / P : 13
• ZZS : 11
• V : 8
• JKP : 16
• KPV : 16
• NA : 13

The parliamentary elections in Latvia for the election of the members of the Saeima in the 13th legislative period took place on October 6, 2018.

Starting position

After the parliamentary elections in 2014 , Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma remained in office and led a coalition between her party Vienotība and the National Association and Alliance of Greens and Peasants (ZZS). The strongest party, the Social Democratic Party “Harmonie” , which is mainly elected by the Russian minority , has traditionally not been accepted into the government, like its predecessor parties since the 1990s. Straujuma resigned in December 2015, mainly due to internal party disputes and delays in health reform. The coalition continued, with Māris Kučinskis (ZZS) becoming the new Prime Minister in February 2016 .

Electoral system

The 100 members of the Latvian Parliament are elected by proportional representation with an open list. The seats are distributed proportionally in five constituencies ( Riga , Vidzeme , Latgale , Kurzeme and Zemgale ) using the Sainte-Laguë procedure .

A nationwide threshold of 5% applies . The legislative period lasts 4 years.

Participating parties

The following 16 parties and party alliances took part in the election:

Party / electoral alliance			Party chairperson	Seats 2018	Seats 2014	Political orientation	European party / group
		Sociāldemokrātiskā partija "Saskaņa" (SDPS) Social Democratic Party "Harmony"	Nils Usakovs	23	24	Social democracy , pro-Russian	S&D
		Politiskā partija “ KPV LV ” (KPV) Who owns the state?	Arthur's Kaimiņš	16		Right-wing populism , critical of Europe
		Jaunā konservatīvā partija (JKP) New Conservative Party	Jānis Bordāns	16		Conservatism , pro-European
		Attīstībai / Par! Development / For!	Daniels Pavļuts , Juris Pūce	13		Liberalism , pro-European	ALDE
		Nacionālā apvienība (NA) National Association	Raivis Dzintars	13	17th	National conservatism , right-wing populism , critical of Europe	EKR
		Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība (ZZS) Alliance of Greens and Peasants	Māris Kučinskis	11	21st	Farmer's party , green politics , centrism , critical of Europe	EGP , ALDE Group
		Jaunā Vienotība (JV) New Unity	Andris Piebalgs	8th	23	Conservatism , liberalism , pro-European	EPP
		Latvijas Reģionu apvienība (LRA) Latvian Regional Alliance	Mārtiņš Bondars		8th	Centrism , regionalism
		No sirds Latvijai (NSL) From the heart for Latvia	Inguna Sudraba		7th	Conservatism , populism
		Latvijas Krievu savienība (LKS) Russian Union of Latvia	Tatjana Ždanoka , Jurijs Petropavlovskis , Miroslavs Mitrofanovs			pro-russian	Greens / EFA
		Rīcības partija action party	Igors Meļņikovs			Euroscepticism
		Progresīvie Progressive	Roberts Putnis			Social democracy , green politics
		Latviešu Nacionālisti Latvian nationalists
		Electoral alliance of Latvijas Sociāldemokrātiskā Strādnieku partija / Kristīgi demokrātiskā savienība / Gods kalpot mūsu Latvijai (LSDSP / KDS / GKL)				Social democracy , Christian democracy	SPE , ECPM
		Apvienība SKG
		Par alternatīvu

Survey

FACTUM survey from September 30, 2018

 %

30th

20th

10

0

21st

15th

13

12

12

11

9

3

3

2

SDPS

JKP

A / P ^c

N / A

KPV

ZZS

V ^g

LRA

P

Otherwise.

Remarks:

^c 2014: LA

^g 2018: in the electoral alliance Jaunā Vienotība (New Unity)

For comparison: polls in 2017 and parliamentary elections in 2014

month	SDPS	V	ZZS	N / A	NSL	LRA	Otherwise.	Undecided	Non-voters
December 2017	20.7%	3.5%	14.3%	7.3%	1.8%	3.6%	8.5%			25%	15.3%
November 2017	19.8%	3.8%	15.3%	7%	2.1%	2.4%	9.6%	26%	14%
October 2017	22.5%	3.5%	13.1%	9.5%	2.2%	3.4%	8.5%	23.5%	13.8%
Election 2014	23.0%	21.9%	19.5%	16.6%	6.9%	6.7%	5.4%	-	-

Result

Preliminary result of the parliamentary elections in Latvia 2018

Party / electoral alliance		be right			Seats
		number	%	+/-	number	+/-
	Social Democratic Party "Harmony" (SDPS)	167.117	19.9	−3.2	23	−1
	Who Owns the State? (KPV)	120.264	14.3	New	16	New
	New Conservative Party (JKP)	114,694	13.7	+13.0	16	+16
	Development / For! (A / P)	101,685	12.1	New	13	New
	National Alliance VL – TB / LNNK (NA)	92,963	11.1	-5.4	13	-4
	Alliance of Greens and Farmers (ZZS)	83,675	10.0	-9.7	11	-10
	New unity (V)	56,542	6.7	-15.2	8th	-15
	Latvian Regional Alliance (LRA)	35,018	4.2	-2.5	0	-8th
	Latvian Russian Union (LKS)	27,014	3.2	+1.6	0	± 0
	Progressive (P)	22,078	2.6	New	0	New
	From the heart for Latvia (NSL)	7.114	0.8	-6.0	0	-7
	Latvian nationalists	4,245	0.5	New	0	New
	For an alternative	2,900	0.3	New	0	New
	LSDSP / KDS / GKL	1,735	0.2	New	0	New
	Action party	1,059	0.1	New	0	New
	Latvian Center Party	897	0.1	New	0	New
total		839,000	100.0	-	100	-
Valid votes		839,000	99.4	+0.1
Invalid votes		4,920	0.6	−0.1
voter turnout		843.920	54.6	−4.3
Eligible voters		1,548,100
Source: Central Electoral Commission

Government formation

Three and a half months after the election, the new conservative coalition government consisting of KPV , JKP , Attīstībai / Par came into force on January 23, 2019 ! , NA and Vienotība take office. Former MEP Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš from Vienotība, the smallest party represented in parliament, became Prime Minister .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fischer Weltalmanach 2017, p. 279
2. ^ Latvian Electoral Commission: Candidate Lists
3. ↑ Decembrī augusi partijas "Saskaņa" un nacionālās apvienības "Visu Latvijai , on jauns.lv
4. ↑ Reitingi: August OCD popularitāte; līderis gan nemainīgs - «Saskaņa» , on lsm.lv
5. ↑ Reitingi: NA sasniedz labāko rezultātu gada laikā, Saeimā iekļūtu 6 spēki , on lsm.lv
6. ↑ Preliminary election result. Centrālā vēlēšanu komisija (CVK), October 7, 2018, accessed on October 7, 2018 (Latvian). 
7. ↑ Der Standard: Karin's Latvian Prime Minister after a long government search