There are exactly two months left until local elections in Latvia, and this week should deliver clarity about all the party lists and candidates who will participate, reported LTV’s ‘De facto’ on the 6th of April.
Current indications are that more than ten party lists will feature in the elections in Rīga, but for many of them, overcoming the five percent threshold will be considered a success.
According to the latest available ratings, only a few parties can feel confident of entering the Rīga City Council (Rīgas Dome, RD) – “Latvia First” (LPV), the National Alliance (NA) and the “Progressives”. Most likely, one of the parties targeting the Russian-speaking electorate will also gain representation.
After interviewing with the likely leaders of several party lists, “De facto” predicts that forming a council coalition may not be an easy task given the ideological and in some cases personal antipathies between parties and candidates.
Although there have been talks on consolidation of forces in Rīga in the past on several political fronts, this has not really worked out with alliances tending to start with high hopes but then quickly unravelling.
But at least for now, the fragmentation is not quite as great as in the extraordinary elections five years ago, when 15 party lists participated. However, the total number of starters this time around is very likely to be quite similar. In the remaining two days during which candidate lists can be submitted, three more parties have announced their intention to hand papers into the Riga Election Commission, and a couple of others have publicly promised to run.
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