The issue of who will be chosen as the next Governor of the Bank of Latvia is not related to the coalition’s stability, said Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa after her meeting with President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs on Wednesday, the 11th of December.
There are three candidates competing for the post of Governor of the Bank of Latvia – the current head Mārtiņš Kazāks, with backing from “Progressives” and “New Unity”; the Chairman of “Altum” Reinis Bērziņš with backing from the Union of Greens and Farmers and opposition parties “National Alliance” and “Combined List”, as well as Pāvels Kuzmins with backing from “For Stability”.
The prime minister stressed that it would be best if the coalition agreed on a single candidate. She also added that there is still time until the 19th of December.
New candidates are needed because Kazāks’ term as Governor of the Bank of Latvia ends on the 21st of December. He was originally elected for a five-year term on the 12th of December 2019. 76 Saeima deputies voted in his favour.
According to LETA, “Latvia in First Place” has no plans to support Kazāks. Combined List and National Alliance factions, meanwhile, have yet to promise support to any specific candidate.
Kazāks has confirmed he would be ready to stay for another term. However, politicians have so far been fairly quiet about this particular issue, using the pretext that they must first cope with the adoption of the next year’s state budget as an excuse.