In an attempt to preserve the coalition, the Combined List (AS) and National Alliance (NA) will vote for New Unity’s presidential candidate – Minister of Foreign Affair Edgars Rinkēvičs – in the end, says Saeima deputy and former Harmony leader Jānis Urbanovičs.
He said “in this time of predictions” one thing is clear: President Egils Levits would have been re-elected had JN not betrayed him. According to the Saeima deputy, Levits could receive votes from AS and NA, as the parties attempt to save the coalition and themselves in it.
“JV has played its cards very cleverly –
they did not consider Levits as theirs and wanted their own candidate instead.
They have acted rationally and logically, judging by what benefits their own interests,” said Urbanovičs, adding that all coalition parties act in their own interests.
According to him, Levits had “rather good chances” to be re-elected in the name of preserving the coalition. However, “it is likely Rinkēvičs will bask in Levits’ glory instead”. Both AS and NA will make sure of this when Rinkēvičs remains the last candidate, similarly to the situation if Levits was left as the last candidate standing. NA will act like AS because it is important for NA to preserve the existing coalition.
“The party does not find risks of changes in the existing coalition as unacceptable,” says Urbanovičs. “Others – AS and NA – will have outplayed themselves. They act to lose. They don’t plan more than one step ahead,” he says.
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