ZZS fails to enter parliament for first time

Latvia’s Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) has failed to cross the 5% threshold to enter parliament for the first time in its history, LSM reported, citing nearly complete election results and the party’s leader.

With 98% of votes counted, ZZS had won 4.46% of the vote. Party chairman Armands Krauze acknowledged in an interview with Latvian Television that the alliance had not cleared the threshold. He said its election result may have been due to inconsistency on values issues.

Krauze said ZZS would remain active in politics, adding that it would work over the next three years and prepare for future elections. On Saturday evening, parliamentary speaker and ZZS leader Daiga Mieriņa also partly attributed the alliance’s poor prospects to its inconsistency on values issues.

ZZS was not the leading political force in Ventspils this time, either, despite traditionally winning there. It received 38% in the previous parliamentary election, 21.6% in the 13th Saeima election, about 46% in the 12th and about 38% in the 11th election in 2011. The alliance also lost its leading position in Ventspils and Balvi municipalities.

The Latvian Farmers’ Union, the largest party in ZZS, has previously failed to enter parliament once, in the 1998 election for the 7th Saeima.