Two of the three parties forming the government – New Unity and Progressives – nominate Mārtiņš Kazāks for a second term as President of the Bank of Latvia. The politicians announced this after a cooperation meeting of the government-forming parties on Monday, December 9.
Shortly before Christmas this year, on 21 December, the current President of the Latvian central bank, Bank of Latvia, Mārtiņš Kazāks, will come to the end of his mandate . Kazāks was elected President of the Bank of Latvia for a five-year term on December 12, 2019. 76 MPs voted in his favour.
The law stipulates that the President of the Bank is elected by the Saeima on the proposal of no less than ten Saeima members. The same person may not hold the post for more than two consecutive terms.
Kazāks himself has confirmed that he would be willing to continue to lead the Bank of Latvia. So far, however, politicians have taken the position not to discuss the issue at length, on the pretext that they first had to deal with the adoption of the 2025 state budget .
There is no loud criticism of Kazāks’ work from politicians, but there is also no unequivocal support.
The third political force in the government, the Greens and Peasants Union (ZZS), nominates Reinis Bērziņš, head of the financial institution Altum, for the post.
This means that the coalition parties do not agree on this issue. The government parties are nominating two candidates for the post of President of the Bank of Latvia.
The New Unity faction in the Saeima has 26 votes, the Progressives – 9, and the Greens and Farmers Union – 16. This means that coalition parties will also have to seek support for their candidates from the opposition. The votes of New Unity and Progressives are not enough to re-elect Kazāks as President of the Bank of Latvia.
The Latvia First faction in the Saeima has previously indicated that it will not support Kazāks for re-election. For its part, For Stability! has nominated its candidate for the post of President of the Bank of Latvia – financier Pāvels Kuzmins.
Meanwhile, the opposition National Alliance and United List factions are still deciding which candidate to accept. All the members of the United List will vote unanimously, Edgars Tavars, the leader of the faction, told Latvian Radio.
Candidates for the post of President of the Bank of Latvia must be nominated to the Saeima by December 10. So far, no candidate has been officially submitted to the Saeima.
