Former Prime Minister and New Unity (JV) politician Evika Siliņa has suggested that her party might have performed better in Latvia’s 15th Saeima election if, following her resignation, JV had not joined the government coalition formed at the time by Andris Kulbergs (United List).
Siliņa made the remarks in response to a question on TV3’s 900 sekundes programme.
Reflecting on the events that unfolded on Latvia’s political scene in the spring, Siliņa said that if JV had not joined the Cabinet formed by Kulbergs at the time, the United List (AS) would have had to either form a minority government or cooperate with Latvia First (LPV).
“I don’t know what AS’s result would be now in that case,” she said.
Asked what JV’s result in this election might have been, Siliņa replied that it was difficult to say, but “possibly it could even have been better”.
Siliņa acknowledged that JV is clearly not satisfied with its election performance and will have to draw conclusions from the result.
The JV politician congratulated Kulbergs and AS on their outstanding election result and expressed readiness to participate in talks led by the party on forming the next government coalition.
Siliņa believes this is a unique opportunity to form a government that could devote more time to achieving its goals than to coalition negotiations.
At the same time, Siliņa acknowledged that the current situation and the formation of the next government depend on the choices made by AS. JV would also be prepared to work in opposition, she said.
As previously reported,
AS won the 15th Saeima election by a decisive margin, receiving 35.3% of the vote,
according to preliminary data compiled by the Central Election Commission.
LPV received the second-highest level of support with 13.1% of the vote, followed by Sovereign Power/Young Latvians (SV/AJ) with 11.71%.
The National Alliance received 8.9% of the vote, followed by the Progressives with 7.88% and JV with 6.36%.
Meanwhile, the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS), which is part of the current government, received just 4.4% of the vote and therefore failed to cross the 5% threshold required to enter the 15th Saeima, according to preliminary results.