Rinkevics meets parties elected to Latvia’s 15th Saeima

Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics met representatives of all political forces elected to the 15th Saeima, according to preliminary election results, and is making a statement after the talks, LSM reported.

Rinkevics met the United List, Latvia First, Sovereign Power/Association of Young Latvians and the National Alliance on Monday. Talks continued on Tuesday with the Progressives and New Unity.

The president can formally nominate a candidate for prime minister after the newly elected Saeima convenes and the current government resigns. He may hold informal consultations beforehand and publicly name a potential candidate to allow parties to start forming a coalition and drafting a government declaration. Such a presidential statement has political, but not legal, force.

The new Saeima is due to hold its first session on November 3. The United List won 41 seats, followed by Latvia First with 17, Sovereign Power/Association of Young Latvians with 15, the National Alliance and the Progressives with 10 each, and New Unity with seven.

Six political forces entered parliament. The Union of Greens and Farmers, a partner in the outgoing coalition, failed to reach the 5% threshold and will be absent from the Saeima for the first time in its 24-year history. Turnout was a record low for parliamentary elections, at 51.79%, with 806,641 voters casting ballots.