Re:Check flags misleading claims in election debates

LSM reports that Re:Baltica’s fact-checking project Re:Check has examined misleading statements made by politicians during debates ahead of Latvia’s 15th Saeima elections.

In a debate involving candidates from the Riga region, participants were asked about the number of ministry employees. Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs of the United List gave the correct figure of about 3,500 ministry employees, but then claimed that their salaries cost the state two billion euros.

That claim was incorrect, Re:Check found. This year, 1.97 billion euros has been allocated from Latvia’s basic budget for the salaries of employees at all state budget institutions, not only ministries. These institutions also employ firefighters, police officers, medical staff, judges and soldiers, with nearly 60,000 employees in total.

There are about 3,500 employees in ministries, and Re:Check calculated that approximately 133 million euros has been allocated for their salaries this year. The prime minister’s office acknowledged that Kulbergs had made a mistake.

Edmunds Jurēvics, leader of the New Unity parliamentary faction, also appeared to misstate or exaggerate figures while discussing healthcare funding.

Speaking on the LTV programme “What Is Happening in Latvia?”, Jurēvics said that healthcare funding had increased by 400 million euros during the time Hosams Abu Meri of New Unity had served as health minister.

Abu Meri became minister in September 2023, when a government led by Evika Siliņa of New Unity was formed. Actual state healthcare funding was 1.8 billion euros in 2023, while just under two billion euros is planned this year. The increase was therefore only slightly less than 200 million euros.