Referendum in Latvia on joining the European Union

On September 20, 2003, a referendum was held in Latvia on joining the European Union . With a majority of 66.97%, the voters approved the country's planned accession to the European Union (EU). The turnout was 71.5%. On May 1, 2004, Latvia officially joined the EU as part of the EU's eastward expansion .

prehistory

Since the declaration of independence of the Baltic republics and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Latvian politics has strived for closer ties to Central and Western Europe. Long-term negotiations finally led to the European Council officially inviting Latvia to join the European Union at the EU summit in Copenhagen . On May 15, 2003, the Saeima passed a law to hold a referendum on membership. The minimum requirement for the validity of the referendum was that at least 50% of the voter turnout should be achieved in the last Saeima election, specifically that at least 497,543 voters took part. The date for the referendum was set for September 20, 2003. Before the referendum in Latvia, similar referendums were held in Lithuania (May 10-11, 2003) and Estonia (September 14th), each of which resulted in clear approval of the planned EU accession.

Results

Results according to Rajonen and urban districts

The following table shows the results of the referendum according to the 26 districts ( rajons ) and 7 cities. Latvian citizens abroad were also eligible to vote.

District or City (with number of primary election districts)	Voters	Yes (votes)	Yes (percent)	No (votes)	No (percent)	Invalid votes	Invalid votes (percent)
Riga (163)	277072	163746	59.10	111378	40.20	1948	0.70
Daugavpils ( Dünaburg ) (34)	36796	11383	30.94	24743	67.24	670	1.82
Jelgava ( Mitau ) (15)	27246	17546	64.40	9565	35.11	135	0.50
Jūrmala ( Riga Beach ) (17)	23781	14918	62.73	8705	36.60	158	0.66
Liepāja ( Libau ) (20)	31944	24436	76.50	7317	22.91	191	0.60
Rēzekne ( Rositten ) (13)	19431	8349	42.97	10826	55.72	256	1.32
Ventspils ( Windau ) (13)	17086	12505	73.19	4482	26.23	99	0.58
Aizkraukles rajons (26)	19869	14853	74.75	4874	24.53	142	0.71
Alūksnes rajons (25)	13010	10046	77.22	2865	22.02	99	0.76
Balvu rajons (23)	14237	9430	66.24	4611	32.39	196	1.38
Bauskas rajons (21)	23558	17823	75.66	5595	23.75	140	0.59
Cēsu rajons (30)	31124	24922	80.07	5995	19.26	207	0.67
Daugavpils rajons (30)	16407	7946	48.43	8244	50.25	217	1.32
Dobeles rajons (23)	17184	13293	77.36	3764	21.90	127	0.74
Gulbenes rajons (20)	13187	9994	75.79	3106	23.55	87	0.66
Jelgavas rajons (20)	14116	9841	69.72	4193	29.70	82	0.58
Jēkabpils rajons (34)	23794	16429	69.05	7124	29.94	241	1.01
Krāslavas rajons (28)	13881	6671	48.06	6991	50.36	219	1.58
Kuldīgas rajons (26)	19308	15868	82.18	3328	17.24	112	0.58
Liepājas rajons (31)	22165	18292	82.53	3740	16.87	133	0.60
Limbažu rajons (22)	20835	17063	81.90	3641	17.48	131	0.63
Ludzas rajons (27)	15282	7571	49.54	7448	48.74	263	1.72
Madonas rajons (29)	23287	17801	76.44	5316	22.83	170	0.73
Ogres rajons (27)	32945	24458	74.24	8308	25.22	179	0.54
Price rajons (24)	18997	12379	65.16	6407	33.73	211	1.11
Rēzeknes rajons (34)	18295	9421	51.49	8633	47.19	241	1.32
Rīgas rajons (40)	72134	51151	70.91	20583	28.53	400	0.55
Saldus rajons (24)	17836	14052	78.78	3659	20.51	125	0.70
Talsu rajons (29)	26027	20755	79.74	5114	19.65	158	0.61
Tukuma rajons (29)	27585	21875	79.30	5560	20.16	150	0.54
Valkas rajons (26)	16744	13757	82.16	2888	17.25	99	0.59
Valmieras rajons (33)	30939	25703	83.08	5089	16.45	147	0.48
Ventspils rajons (12)	6595	5246	79.55	1306	19.80	43	0.65
Latvians abroad (38)	7770	7177	92.37	582	7.49	11	0.14
Latvia as a whole (1006)	1010467	676700	66.97	325980	32.26	7787	0.77

As a result, the question of the referendum was answered with 'yes' by a two-thirds majority. The minimum voter turnout was reached and the result was valid. However, there were noticeable differences between the Latvian regions. The agreement was in Central Livonia ( Vidzeme ) and Kurland ( Kurzeme ) the highest, but noticeably lower in Semigallia ( Zemgale ) and lowest in the Eastern Latgale ( Latgale ) where the voting majority negatively answered the question of the referendum.

Web links

• Referendum on Latvia joining EU , information from the Central Election Commission of Latvia on the referendum

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Referendum on Latvia joining EU. Central Electoral Commission of Latvia, accessed on November 6, 2013 . 
2. ↑ Tautas nobalsošanas par Latvijas dalību Eiropas Savienība rezultati. Retrieved November 6, 2013 (Latvian).