On Thursday, the Saeima approved amendments to the Saeima Election Law in the second reading. Among other changes, the amendments stipulate that from 2030, political parties must have at least 1 000 members to participate in parliamentary elections, up from the current requirement of 500 members.
In an informative report on political party oversight, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) noted that party member data is not currently entered into the political party register, and the Company Register cannot verify whether the listed members match data in the Population Register, whether all listed individuals actually exist, or whether a person is listed in multiple parties’ member lists.
According to the MoJ, the issue lies not only in unverified data but also in the lack of control over whether listed individuals are actual party members and whether the registers are updated regularly. By law, political parties in Latvia must have at least 200 members who are Latvian citizens. For parties with more than 400 members, at least half must be citizens.
The Saeima also rejected a proposal to allocate diaspora votes to specific electoral districts. This means that votes from Latvian citizens living abroad will continue to be counted toward the Riga constituency.
MP Ingmārs Līdaka (AS) argued that assigning all diaspora votes to Riga essentially ignores the fact that these people have emigrated. He said many of them want to return and care about their regions but cannot vote for representatives from those areas. Līdaka cited a diaspora survey in which 52.4% of respondents said it was important to vote in the district they emigrated from.
MP Edvards Smiltēns (AS) compared the current setup to theft, noting that a vote in Riga carries 17% more weight than a vote in any other constituency, due to discrepancies between the number of registered residents and actual eligible voters. According to him, Riga should elect 30 MPs instead of the current 36, with adjustments also needed in Vidzeme (from 26 to 28) and Zemgale (from 11 to 15).
Saeima Speaker Daiga Mieriņa (Union of Greens and Farmers, ZZS) expressed confusion as to why, despite Riga’s population declining over the past ten years, the number of MPs elected from Riga has increased by eight.
A proposal similar to this was first submitted to the Saeima’s Public Administration and Local Government Committee in 2021 by ZZS but was rejected.
The current Saeima Election Law provides that the votes of Latvian citizens living abroad are counted for the Riga constituency.
Other supported amendments include extending the candidate registration period – from 135 to 120 days before the election (currently it’s from 80 days prior). This is intended to improve election preparation and procurement planning.
The Central Election Commission will now have to determine the number of MPs to be elected from each district five months before the election, instead of the current four months, based on the number of registered voters.
The deposit fee for submitting a candidate list will also change. Instead of a fixed 1 400 euros, it will be tied to the minimum monthly wage – 11 times the minimum wage, though for the next election cycle it will be six times the minimum wage to ease the transition.
Voting hours on election day will be standardized across elections, with polling stations open from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., instead of starting at 7:00 a.m.
Early voting (advance voting) will now be possible at all polling stations from Monday to Friday before election day, rather than only at selected locations within the constituency.
Ballot counting will incorporate scanning technology, and instead of marking candidates with pluses and minuses, ballots will now use a simplified “for” or “against” system.
Amendments also simplify the postal voting process, allowing applications via the e-government portal www.latvija.gov.lv. Additionally, precinct commissions will be able to organize mobile voting.
For the amendments to take effect, they must still be approved in the third and final reading by the Saeima.