New Unity’s presidential candidates could include Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkēvičs, European Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, MEP Sandra Kalniete or someone else, said New Unity Saeima faction chairman Ainars Latkovskis in an interview to TV3.
According to him, New Unity will decide on its own presidential candidate now that President Egils Levits has announced his decision to not run for re-election.
Only two parties support Levits as presidential candidate. This means he does not have sufficient support for re-election.
Latkovskis said New Unity’s most important criterion for presidential candidates is having a strict position in topics of national security that is reflected in the work they do. This means the party’s potential candidate may be Rinkēvičs, Dombrovskis, Kalniete or someone else. “This isn’t some cat in the bag. It’s not [Combined List founder and businessman Uldis] Pīlēns, whose work remains unknown,” said New Unity politician.
According to Latkovskis, New Unity’s positions will become clearer in the coming days. “This is when we plan to announce our candidate and submit documents”.
When asked to comment on the stability of PM Krišjānis Kariņš’s government, Latkovskis said the situation could develop a number of ways. “Kariņš has been interested in having a wider coalition from the very beginning. Now we can see it is difficult to work at a 54-person coalition,” said Latkovskis, adding that “whether or not the coalition changes will depend on different developments, presidential elections included”.
As previously reported, Latvia’s President Egils Levits has announced he has reconsidered running in the upcoming presidential elections.
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