Changes to the government in Latvia sooner or later may serve as “payment” for votes in presidential elections, said the leader of the National Alliance (NA) Raivis Dzintars in an interview to LTV programme Rīta panorāma on Wednesday, the 31st of May.
According to him, you don’t need to be a politologist to notice the aforementioned correlation and understand it. On top of that, opposition parties have clearly signalled their interests. Nevertheless, Dzintars does not believe changes to the government will be immediate – some time may pass.
The changes will likely come in the term of the current government, he said.
When asked if he expects a president to be successfully elected today, Dzintars said candidates and their teams have worked very hard and very actively to secure a result today. This means the probability is very high. For example, New Unity (JV) has been actively working with the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) and Progressive Party to convince them to vote for Edgars Rinkēvičs.
Even before the extraordinary meeting of the Saeima, NA will gather for a faction meeting to make a formal decision on their position in regards to presidential elections. The party is likely to decide not to support any candidate. NA has plans to call a faction meeting before every next vote in presidential elections, said Dzintars.
Presidential elections will be held in Latvia on the 31st of May. There are three candidates in total for Latvian political parties to choose from: Combined List political party founder, businessman Uldis Pīlēns; New Unity’s candidate, Latvia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkēvičs, and Progressive Party candidate, public management expert Elīna Pinto.
Also read: BNN INTERVIEW | Politologist Rajevskis: when only one candidate is left, it becomes a coalition stability issue