Party leaders offer no clear backing for Rinkevics re-election

Latvian party leaders have yet to settle on whether they would support President Edgars Rinkevics for a second term, LSM reported after a televised debate on Friday. Several said it was too early to decide because Rinkevics has not said whether he will run again.

The next, 15th Saeima will decide who takes over the presidency from July 2027. Asked whether they would support Rinkevics, representatives of Suverena vara / Jaunlatviesi, Latvia First, Mes mainam noteikumus and Stabilitatei said no.

Prime minister candidates Viktors Valainis of the Union of Greens and Farmers, Ilze Indriksone of the National Alliance and Andris Suvajevs of Progressives gave neither a yes nor a no. Arvils Aseradens, the New Unity candidate, said he would support Rinkevics’ re-election. Aseradens and incumbent Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs of the United List said their parties had not yet assessed the question, but described Rinkevics’ work positively. Kulbergs said the president had grown in office.

Valainis said his party primarily believes the president should be elected by the people. If that proposal is approved, he said, Rinkevics could run with public support; otherwise, Valainis said, he did not believe the 2023 decision to elect Rinkevics had been a mistake.

Latvia First representative Ainars Slesers said parties that win a majority could agree on who should become prime minister and president. He also backed electing the president by popular vote. Indriksone said the National Alliance usually puts forward its own presidential candidate and would do so next year. Stepanenko also supported a directly elected president, saying she and her colleagues would make it happen.

Tags: Latvia, presidency, Saeima