The National Alliance and parties of the Combined List would like to work in a coalition under New Unity without a fourth side, said representatives of the two parties Rihards Kols and Māris Kučinskis in an interview to TV3 programme 900 seconds.
Based on provisional results of 14th Saeima elections, the coalition formed by the three parties would have 54 votes in the parliament. Kols believes this is an optimal advantage. At the same time, however, he said this means a coalition like that would have to be very disciplined.
When asked if some other party should be included to ensure better stability of the government, such as Progressive party, Kols said this possibility is not on the table at the moment.
Māris Kučinskis agreed – no fourth party is needed.
«It is a topic for discussions, and I would be happy if talks commenced with just the three of us. We had a similar coalition four years ago, and there are many familiar faces here and there,» said the politician.
The once prime minister from the Union of Greens and Farmers mentioned that the fact the Progressive Party is not invited is not a strict demand, rather he personally feels the coalition would work best as a triumvirate.
Kučinskis said lack of political experience is one of the main flaws of the Progressive Party.
At the same time, Kučinskis mentioned that parties part of the Combined List will not serve as a partner to fill the spots left empty by Attīstībai/Par! and the Conservative Party, which both failed to pass the 5% mark in the recent 14th Saeima elections.
«We will need big discussions of certain points, however. […] Our main focus, so to speak, is the defence and economic bloc – the way it will be formed,» explained the politician.
Kols added that participants of upcoming coalition formation talks should not put up artificial obstacles that would complicate the quick formation of the new government and immediate start of its operations. This would be in the interest of the state, he stressed.
Both Kučinskis and Kols said it would make sense if New Unity took charge over the government coalition creation process. They added Krišjānis Kariņš should remain as the prime minister.
As previously reported, provisional election results indicate that in 14th Saeima elections New Unity received 26 mandates, Union of Greens and Farmers received 16, Combined List received 15, National Alliance received 13, For Stability! Received 11, Progressive party received ten, and Latvia in First Place received nine.
On 3 October, President of Latvia Egils Levits invited representatives of elected factions for meetings.
More on this topic: Latvia’s14th Saeima gradually taking shape