Economics and business lead education fields among Latvian MPs

Economics, business and management are the most common fields of study among Latvia’s new MPs, according to an analysis by Latvian public broadcaster LSM. Of the 100 members of the 15th Saeima, the country’s parliament, 95 have higher education.

Four MPs — Juris Lazdiņš, Artūrs Butāns, Ainārs Šlesers and Dana Šlesere — have secondary education, while Edgars Dārziņš has primary education. Seven MPs hold doctoral degrees.

Latvian Television (LTV) counted education qualifications rather than individuals because some MPs have multiple degrees. About a third of the recorded qualifications are in economics, business and management. Law is the next largest field, including degrees in legal studies and professional legal qualifications.

The MPs also include graduates in history, philology, philosophy, art and music, as well as engineering, chemistry, biology and geography.

Asked whether their education would shape their priorities, MP Guntars Vītols of the United List, who has a master’s degree in economics, said he would focus on finance and economic issues. He added that he had warned colleagues with less financial knowledge that he would “educate them”.

MP Roberts Žemaitis of Latvia First, who studied energy, said he wanted to examine the Nord Pool electricity exchange. He said he believed “something isn’t quite right” and that Latvia had been promised better and more objective prices when it joined the exchange.

The new parliament held its first session this week, confirming MPs’ mandates and taking their oaths. The day before, MPs laid flowers at the Freedom Monument to mark the 104th anniversary of the convening of the Saeima.