The election of businessman and founder of the Combined List (AS) political party Uldis Pīlēns as president of Latvia would not mean collapse for the government, because presidential elections and government stability are two mutually unrelated topics, says AS faction chairman Edgars Tavars.
Election of a new president will be a slight challenge for the coalition, but it will not be critical for the government or PM Krišjānis Kariņš, stresses Tavars.
The leader of AS faction also says that
unofficial talks show favour among coalition members for Pīlēns as a presidential candidate.
Coalition parties are invited to meet with the founder of AS to learn of his vision.
AS plans to officially propose Pīlēns as their presidential candidate on Wednesday or Thursday this week. Tavars is more positive than negative about the party’s chosen candidate’s chances. He refrained from giving a 100% prediction, however.
He said members of the opposition know Pīlēns will not be the coalition’s guardian. This means he will not be like President Egils Levits. The politician stressed that Pīlēns will be proposed as presidential candidate is proposed to assist with growth of Latvia’s national economy, as well as internal and external security.
13th of May is the deadline for parties to propose presidential candidates. Presidential elections in Latvia will be taking place in the Saeima on the last day of May.
The Progressive Party plans to announce their candidate on Thursday, the 11th of May. The Union of Greens and Farmers still hasn’t decided whether they want to pick their own candidate.
Also read: Most Latvians want to see other presidential candidates