United List leads Latvia election with more than a third of votes

Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs’s United List has taken the lead in Latvia’s 15th Saeima election, winning more than a third of votes counted, preliminary Central Election Commission results cited by LSM show.

With 51% of ballots counted, the commission’s figures indicated that United List had won the most votes. A later update displayed by LSM, with 54.6% counted across 773 of 1,059 polling stations, projected 38 seats for the alliance.

Latvia First, Sovereign Power/Union of Young Latvians and the National Alliance were also on course to enter parliament. The Progressives, New Unity and the Union of Greens and Farmers were each polling at around the 5% threshold.

United List said it would first discuss forming the next coalition with its current partners, New Unity and the National Alliance, as well as the Union of Greens and Farmers if it enters parliament. Kulbergs said voters’ support for him signalled a desire for change.

United List was formed before the previous parliamentary election after splitting from the Union of Greens and Farmers. It finished third in 2022, winning about 11% of the vote and 15 seats.