Vilis Krištopans
Vilis Krištopans (born June 13, 1954 in Jarkowo , Omsk Oblast ) is a Latvian politician of the Latvijas Ceļš party (Latvia's Way) and former Prime Minister .
biography
Minister of transport
Vilis Krištopans had a short career as an entrepreneur when Prime Minister Guntars Krasts appointed him his Transport Minister on August 7, 1997. At the beginning of 1998 it became known that despite his ministerial office he was still on several company boards. As part of an investigation into these activities and a resulting conflict of interest, he described his opponents as "provincial" and Latvia as "the land of fools".
Prime Minister from 1998 to 1999 and party change
In the 1998 parliamentary elections , his party Latvian Way achieved the second-best vote with 21 seats after the People's Party ( Tautas Partija ) of former Prime Minister Andris Šrisēle . Although the People's Party had the largest number of MPs with 24 out of 100 MPs, there were no coalition negotiations with the People's Party because of the political style of Šķēle.
This led to Krištopans becoming Prime Minister on November 26, 1998 , after coalition negotiations with the nationalist For Fatherland and Freedom Party ( Tēvzemei un Brīvībai ), which won 17 seats, and the centrist New Party ( Jaunā partija ), which had 8 seats . A government statement on a traditional meeting of veterans of Latvian SS units on March 15 and 16, 1999, in which Krištopans defended the right of veterans to commemorate their fallen comrades, sparked international criticism.
Disputes over the upcoming election of a new president ( Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga was ultimately elected ) led to a vote of no confidence on July 5, 1999 , which Krištopans lost. On July 16, 1999, he was replaced by Andris Šķēle in the office of Prime Minister.
Member of the Alliance of Greens and Peasants
He then retired from politics for several years and also resigned from the Latvian Way party . From 2002 to 2006 he was a member of the Saeima as a member of the Alliance of Greens and Peasants ( Zaļo un Zemnieku Savienība ). However, he was not once present at parliamentary debates.
Web links
Individual evidence
predecessor | Office | successor |
---|---|---|
Guntars Krasts |
Prime Minister of Latvia November 26, 1998 - July 16, 1999 |
Andris Šķēle |
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Krištopans, Vilis |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Latvian politician, member of the Saeima and Prime Minister |
DATE OF BIRTH | June 13, 1954 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Jarkovo , Omsk Oblast |