Mayor of Daugavpils Andrejs Elksniņš doesn’t deserve such a high post, says ex-president of Latvia Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga.
Commenting on Elksniņš’s statements on the war in Ukraine, the ex-president said she is convinced this politician doesn’t deserve having such a high post in Latvia. She says it is necessary to think about legal mechanisms to prevent such politicians from getting important posts.
«Security services should rush to their work stations and start writing proposals as to what they lack in order to adequately respond to such situations,» she said, stressing that the parliament should also make steps towards law amendments in order to prevent paralysis and powerlessness, because not far from the border there is a war, but «Latvia’s interests are put at risk by this man’s statements».
At the same time, the ex-president thanked Harmony political party for their ability to choose a side at the start of Russia’s war.
«I would like to thank Harmony for their courage and choosing the side to stand with despite the fact that for many years they had been as though a surfer on a high wage, sliding into the Saeima on the wave of protecting Russian-speakers,» explained Vīķe-Freiberga.
She believes until now Harmony was in harmony with its voters, but the party’s own electorate was not able to follow their principal choice at the start of the war.
«I would like to congratulate them for making this step on their own. But I do not congratulate them for failing to raise their voters and preparing them for the idea that there are principles they would have to choose,» said Vīķe-Freiberga.
The ex-president believes certain parties that entered the Saeima that projected «chauvinistic positions» later disappeared from the political stage due to international events.
Vīķe-Freiberga hopes the number of residents that continue looking for such positions in the political spectrum will go down in Latvia.
BNN previously reported that Elksniņš told Delfi TV in an interview that ‘Crimea is basically part of the Russian Federation’. The mayor of Daugavpils also said, however, that Latvia’s foreign policy course is binding to him.
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