Latvia’s United List Leads Parliamentary Election, Partial Results Show

The party of Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs was leading in the country’s parliamentary election, partial results showed, according to Reuters. These are partial results, and the final official outcome has not been confirmed in the sources reviewed for this report. With 72 per cent of ballots counted, the United List was on 36.5 per cent, followed by Latvia First on 13.0 per cent, Reuters reported. Al Jazeera, citing the count at the time of its own report, gave 35.8 per cent for the United List and 13.3 per cent for Latvia First, a reminder that the figures were still moving as counting continued.

What the Count Shows

Al Jazeera, drawing on AFP and Reuters reporting, said nearly 800,000 Latvians voted in the country’s 11th parliamentary election since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, with a turnout of 51.7 per cent. It described the vote as the first electoral test for Mr Kulbergs since he came to power in May. Reuters described the United List as centrist and pro-Ukraine, and said it was winning by an unexpectedly wide margin. Reuters added that, according to partial results, Mr Kulbergs will still need coalition allies to form a government.

Reuters said that, in the exit poll ranking, the Sovereign Power party was third on 10.5 per cent, followed by the National Alliance on 9.6 per cent. Al Jazeera put Sovereign Power at about 11 per cent in the count. Reuters reported that Mr Kulbergs, reacting to exit poll readings earlier in the evening, said he hoped to remain prime minister but would not want to govern with Latvia First.

Campaign Backdrop

“It’s remarkably good. I was not expecting such a result,” Mr Kulbergs told Reuters at his party’s headquarters in Riga. According to Reuters, his campaign promised more anti-drone capabilities and defence spending maintained at 5 per cent of gross domestic product. Al Jazeera said Latvia is now allocating nearly 5 per cent of GDP to defence. Reuters reported that the Baltic states have warned for months of Russian sabotage, cyber and other hybrid attacks, while Russia says such accusations are baseless.

Why It Matters

A lead of this size is a strong position for the prime minister’s party, but the reports make clear that coalition partners will still be needed, and Mr Kulbergs has already said whom he would prefer to avoid. The next steps depend on the final official count and on negotiations between the parties, neither of which is yet known.