Researcher says Uzulniek’s political career is likely over
Monday 14th September 2026 on 07:30 in
Latvia
Reinis Uzulnieks has probably ended his political career after being caught driving under the influence and recalled as welfare minister, while the incident is unlikely to significantly affect the Greens and Farmers Union’s election rating, LSM reported, citing Līga Stafecka, an associate researcher at Providus specialising in good governance and anti-corruption issues.
The Greens and Farmers Union board recalled Uzulnieks on Saturday, September 12, after police caught him driving with alcohol in his system. The board also decided to expel him from the Union of Farmers, one of the parties in the alliance.
Stafecka said it was currently difficult to predict how the incident would affect the alliance, as much would depend on how it explained the situation to the public.
“It is clear that Mr Uzulnieks’s political career has most likely ended,” Stafecka said in an interview with Latvian Radio’s Labrīt programme.
She said Uzulnieks was not one of the alliance’s most prominent political figures, meaning his actions were unlikely to have a major effect on its ratings. Although he was a minister, he was not particularly visible in public and was not the leading figure in the alliance whose actions would immediately shape public opinion about it as a whole, Stafecka said.
Opposition parties are also unlikely to gain significantly from the incident because the Greens and Farmers Union is fighting to enter the next Saeima, Latvia’s parliament. At the same time, Stafecka said the alliance’s representatives were increasingly being asked about alcohol-related problems within the alliance during pre-election debates.
Until now, Greens and Farmers Union representatives had avoided those questions or denied that such a problem existed. Uzulnieks’s case shows that problems do exist, Stafecka said.
Police caught Uzulnieks driving under the influence in Ropaži Municipality on September 12, with more than three per mille recorded in his breath. Criminal proceedings have been launched.