Ten party leaders face election debate in Liepāja

LSM and Latvian Television are holding a pre-election debate in Liepāja on Thursday, September 17, with the leaders of 10 political parties’ lists for the Kurzeme electoral district taking part.

The debate is part of the “Choose Latvia’s future” series ahead of Latvia’s 15th Saeima elections, which will take place across all five electoral districts: Latgale, Zemgale, Riga, Kurzeme and Vidzeme.

The participants are Artūrs Butāns of the National Alliance, Māris Kučinskis of the United List, Edgars Dārznieks of Sovereign Power and the Association of New Latvians, Ramona Petraviča of Latvia First, Agnese Lāce of the Progressives, Ēriks Pucens of We Change the Rules, Uldis Augulis of the Union of Greens and Farmers, Edgars Jaunups of Latvia’s Development, Ludmila Rjazanova of Stability!, and Inga Bērziņa of New Unity.

Political forces were invited to the regional debates if they had reached at least 2% support in at least one of the public opinion surveys conducted by SKDS and published in August. The threshold is based on the share of all eligible voters, rather than only those who had made a specific choice at the time of the survey.

Each party delegated one of the first three candidates on its list for the relevant electoral district. The debates include participation from regional residents and the audience, who can ask questions and discuss issues affecting the region and Latvia as a whole.

The debate is moderated by experienced Latvian Television journalists Gundars Rēders and Guntis Bojārs.

Debates have already been held in Latgale on August 27, Zemgale on September 3 and Riga on September 10. The next debate will take place in Vidzeme on September 24.

Latvia’s 15th Saeima elections will be held on Saturday, October 3.