Despite the court of first instance declaring ex-Mayor of Ventspils Aivars Lembergs guilty of severe crimes against the state and the US, his ever-loyal political party, which lost two members due to Lembergs and his opinions in the past two months, has decided to pick him as their prime minister candidate. But this isn’t the first time.
Before looking deeper into the history of this relationship, BNN reminds that two parties have left the Union of Greens and Partners in the last two months: Liepaja Party and Latvian Green Party. On top of that, Māris Kučinskis has also left ZZS faction. The party is slowly falling apart, but it is trying to preserve its «good image» by picking Lembergs. Is it even worth mentioning irony in this case?
Even Ventspils does not have as much respect left for Lembergs as he would like. In the last municipal elections, which were held in August 2021, Lembergs’ party For Latvia and Ventspils received seven seats out of 13 while he was in prison. As a result, Lembergs is no longer able to remain as self-proclaimed mayor of the city.
9th Saeima elections
Prior to 9th Saeima elections Lembergs submitted a request to the court to speed up the review of his request to have the office of the prosecutor general withdraw offensive statements mentioned in the request for legal aid previously sent to Switzerland. The lasting uncertainty about the outcome of the case could negatively affect Lembergs’ ratings as a potential candidate and reduce his changes of getting elected. The office of the prosecutor general did not withdraw the information unpleasant for Lembergs. Instead he was presented with charges for bribery, money laundering and breach of restrictions imposed for officials.
On the day Lembergs was presented with charges the board of ZZS announced he will be the party’s official prime minister candidate.
Lembergs did announce then that he would not run in 9th Saeima elections after the whole ordeal. After his detainment on 14 March 2007 and incarceration in Matīsa Prison, then the Latvian PM Aigars Kalvītis said: «If this is situation is so serious, Lembergs will not be able to participate in meetings of the Coalition Council.» Media report the situation remains serious – he and representatives of his party will not be able to participate in meetings of the Coalition Council for a very long time.
Read also: Exclusive | Valentīns Kokalis details secret talks held in Lembergs’ hunting lodge and backstage political puppetry
It is worth mentioning here that the Saeima did receive so-called anti-Lembergs law amendments for review. These amendments state that people under US sanctions are prohibited from entering the Saeima. Parliamentarian Artuss Kaimiņš commented on the proposal, saying that the objective of the law is making sure Lembergs is not allowed to ‘run around the Saeima’ or enter rooms occupied by ZZS faction. Union of Greens and Farmers, Harmony, New Unity, several members of For a Humane Latvia and non-faction deputies voted against the legislative draft.
10th Saeima elections
«Before 10th Saeima elections in 2010 Lembergs continued blowing smoke in people’s eyes with his possible candidacy. His own doubts about candidacy in elections are linked to confidence that he is better suited for a seat in executive power, not the Saeima. Despite this, ZZS’s Latvian Green Party picked him as their PM candidate,» reminds regional media Ventspilnieks.lv.
But Lembergs did not run in elections in the end. It is possible the reason is because his proposal to let politicians keep their mandates in municipal administrations and the Saeima did not receive support in the parliament, the media allows.
This was followed by well-known events – then the President of Latvia Valdis Zatlers issued decree Nr.2, which initiated a referendum on the Saeima’s dissolution. Society held a celebration – «Burial of oligarchs».
11th Saeima elections
Lembergs publicly says that if the people decided to dissolve the Saeima, he would consider running for 11th Saeima. Lembergs did make a statement relatively quickly that he would not run in elections but would nonetheless be the prime minister candidate for ZZS. When asked if his reputation is good enough for the post of PM or whether ZZS misleads voters by picking him for the aforementioned post yet again, the suspended mayor of Ventspils said his reputation is good, Ventspilnieks.lv wrote.
Read also: Union of Greens and Farmers picks Aivars Lembergs as PM candidate
12th Saeima elections
The media also reminds that for the 12th Saeima elections the partners of Lembergs’ political party were no longer as eager to pick him as their candidate as they were before. ‘The Green Party announced it will not accept Aivars Lembergs as prime minister candidate. In the end, however, ZZS once again picked Lembergs. He explained his decision to run in elections with criticism of the government. He claimed the government in Latvia is too proud of itself and that its declaration and action plan are not implemented in necessary amounts, etc. The situation with elections turned out interesting – ZZS received 21 seats and Laimdota Straujuma was elected PM and Raimonds Vējonis was elected as President of Latvia. The political market had enough room to manoeuvre. It is possible Lembergs could have become prime minister. The question is – did he want it?’
As reported by Ir magazine, citing the infamous Rīdzene talks, Lembergs may have mentioned that he joined the election campaign at the final week, when all parties except ZZS started experiencing rating growth. «I was afraid that if I went all out and we won. I wouldn’t know what to do. Ah, screw it – I don’t want that!»
Read also: BNN ANALYSES | An imprisoned «mayor». A look at Aivars Lembergs’ activities
OPINION | Lembergs as prime minister candidate. How many times is enough?
