Wednesday, 13 July, will mark the start of candidate list submission for the 14th Saeima elections. This process will continue until 2 August. Parliamentary elections are scheduled for 1 October 2022, as reported by the Central Election Commission.
Photo: LETA/BNN collageAt least 12 political parties and political unions have expressed an interest in submitting candidate lists:
Alliance of political parties Attīstībai/Par! (co-chairmen: Artūrs Toms Plešs and Daniels Pavļuts);
Political party Stabilitātei! (chairman: Aleksejs Rosļikovs);
Political party National Alliance All for Latvia–For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK (chairman: Raivis Dzintars);
Alliance of political parties United list – Latvian Green Party, Latvian Association of Regions, Liepaja party (co-chairmen: Armands Krauze and Edgars Smiltēns);
Political party Republika (chairman: Sandis Ģirģens);
Political party Latvia in First Place (chairman: Ainārs Šlesers);
Political party Conservative (chairman: Jānis Bordāns);
Social democratic party Harmony (chairman: Jānis Urbanovičs);
Alliance of political parties Union of Greens and Farmers (chairman: Armands Krauze);
Alliance of political parties New Unity (chairman: Krišjānis Kariņš);
Political party Progressive (co-chairmen: Antoņina Ņenaševa and Atis Švinka);
Political party For Each and Every (chairman: Aldis Gobzems).
Political parties Attīstībai/Par! and Stabilitātei! have plans to submit their lists on 13 July.
Latvian citizens who are older than 21 years on Election Day are allowed to run in Saeima elections as long as no restrictions listed in Law on the Election of the Saeima apply to them. Lists of candidates for Saeima elections are allowed to be submitted by political parties and alliances of political parties registered in the enterprise register of the Republic of Latvia.
To submit a list of candidates, a political party needs to have been founded no later than a year prior to elections and needs to have no fewer than 500 members. The same applies to alliances of parties.
The term within which political parties need to have had been founded in order to qualify for 14th Saeima elections is 30 September 2021.
Lists of candidates and added documents are to be submitted using CVK software. Candidate lists have to be submitted along with a pre-election campaign plan the size of which is not allowed to exceed 4 000 symbols.
The security fee for submission of candidate lists for Saeima elections is EUR 1 400. This fee provides the right to submit candidate lists in all election regions. The fee is returned if the list of candidates receives 2% of more valid ballots in its favour. If not, CVK transfers the fee to the state budget.
There are five election regions for Saeima elections – Riga, Vidzeme, Latgale, Kurzeme and Zemgale. A certain number of deputies have to be elected to Latvia’s parliament from all regions: 36 seats in Riga, 26 seats in Vidzeme, 13 in Latgale and Zemgale, and 12 in Kurzeme.
The number of Saeima deputies to be elected in each region is calculated by CVK in proportion to the number of each region’s population. Latvian citizens living abroad and who participate in elections are to be added to the voters in Riga.
Political parties and their leaders that plan to run in 14th Saeima elections
