Partial results from Latvia’s parliamentary election showed the United List, a centrist and pro-Ukraine party led by Prime Minister Andris Kolbergs, taking an unexpectedly wide lead in Saturday’s vote, held amid tensions among some voters over warnings of possible Russian aggression.
United List leads in partial results
The United List received 36.5 per cent of the vote after 72 per cent had been counted, while the populist Latvia First party came second with 13.0 per cent. The party has adopted the style of the Make America Great Again movement and sought to attract votes from the country’s large ethnic Russian minority in the run-up to the election.
Despite the United List’s wide lead, the partial results indicate that Kolbergs will still need allies in a political coalition to form a government. After exit polls were released earlier in the evening, the prime minister said he hoped to remain in office but did not want to govern with Latvia First.
Kolbergs welcomes election result
Kolbergs commented on the result from his party headquarters in the capital, Riga, saying: “This is a remarkably good result. I did not expect such a result.” The openly pro-Russia Sovereign Power party came third in the opinion polls with 10.5 per cent, while the National Alliance came fourth with 9.6 per cent.
The National Alliance advocates a hardline approach towards the Kremlin. The election took place amid months of warnings from the Baltic states about what they describe as sabotage, cyberattacks and other hybrid attacks carried out by Russia across parts of Europe, with the aim of spreading fear and undermining support for Ukraine.
Western officials, however, dismiss concerns about Moscow’s ability to launch a direct attack on NATO, of which Latvia is a member. Russia denies accusations over the hybrid attacks, saying they are baseless and the result of an unjustified, anti-Russian wave of panic.
