Looking at the decision to create new posts in the government, it would seem the opposition has successfully turned the attention of Latvia’s residents to an important question: do we even need this?
This was the assessment given by politologist and public relations specialist Filips Rajevskis on Thursday, the 1st of December, regarding the creation of a new ministry and new vice-minister posts.
This day the Saeima passed in the final reading amendments to the State Administration Structure Law and Cabinet Structure Law, approving the proposal of the coalition for the creation of a new ministry and vice-minister posts. Previously, however, the amendments in question were rejected by the parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee twice.
Rajevskis stressed: this is neither the first nor the last time when the Saeima has passed amendments rejected by one of its committees. He believes it was more of a tactical play from the opposition. The opposition did all it could to pull everyone’s attention towards the question of whether or not these posts are even needed. This is why the political activity in the Saeima’s Legal Affairs Committee was in the background – it was necessary to pull as much attention as possible to outline this issue.
«If the opposition showed successful tactical communication play, for the coalition it was unsuccessful. I allow at least one party in the coalition – New Unity – may have intentionally played int the opposition’s hands to weaken one of its partners – Combined List. New Unity stressed during this game that it was the Combined List the ones who wanted to create new posts,» explained Rajevskis.
The politologist said the situation can be considered a play for power and influence in the coalition.
Rajevskis mentioned that there is a plan to reduce the role of the Combined List in the coalition.
When asked if this law approval process could potentially reduce public trust in the Saeima, the politologist said no. He stressed that this burns the trust voters gave the parties and those who are to compose the new government. Rajevskis stressed: even before the government’s vote in the parliament the amount of public trust was already spent. The reason is because the government formation process was not too successful in the eyes of the public.
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