The elections for Parliament (Saeima) in Latvia are held every four years on the first Saturday in October. The Latvia Saeima election is a proportional representation election system by secret ballot for the 100 seats in the Saeima.
The Saeima elections are held in five constituencies (election districts): Riga, Vidzeme, Latgale, Zemgale and Kurzeme. In contrast to local government elections, Saeima elections are also held in those foreign countries where a substantial number of Latvia citizens reside. Thus, the Riga constituency also includes the electorate residing outside of Latvia.
Four months before election day the Central Election Commission determines the number of Saeima seats for each of the five constituencies, based on the Population Register statistics.
The Central Election Commission has determined that the 8th Saeima seats will be distributed as follows: 28 seats for the Riga constituency, 26 seats for the Vidzeme constituency, 17 seats for the Latgale constituency, 15 seats for the Zemgale constituency and 14 seats for the Kurzeme constituency.
For the elections to the 8th Saeima 20 lists were registered. Out of the only 6 received more than 5% of votes. Those are:
Political Party “New Era” – 26 places. This party considers itself as right wing party.
Union for Human Rights in united Latvia – 25 places. This party unites left wing politicians.
People’s Party of Latvia – 20 seats.
Union of Green Party and Farmers – 12 seats. This party considers itself as a right wing party.
The First Party of Latvia – 10 seats, right wing party.
Union for Fatherland and Freedom – 7 seats, right wing nationally oriented party.
Today, on the 5 of November the President of Latvia Ms. Vaira Vike Freiberga nominated the candidate for the post of Prime Minister of Latvia. Mr Einars Repse, chairman of the “New Era” was nominated.
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