Within one year, 39 230 Latvian citizens have signed the petition for a referendum to dissolve the Latvian 14th Saeima, which means that no referendum will be held, according to a statement on the website of the Central Election Commission (CEC).
In order to consider the collection of signatures a success and hold a referendum on the dissolution of the 14th Saeima, at least 10% of the voting age population, or 154 241 Latvian citizens over the age of 18, had to sign the initiative. This time, 2.54% of those eligible to vote supported the initiative.
The applications to hold a referendum on the dissolution of the Saeima were submitted to the CEC by the party “Latvia in First Place”, the party “Force of People’s Power”, the party “Sovereign Power”, the party alliance “Pamats-LV”, the party “People’s Servants for Latvia”, the party “Alliance of Young Latvians”, the party “Stability!”, the party alliance “New Harmony”, the party “National Union Justice” and the association “Power to Latvian People”. All the initiatives were united in a single signature collection.
The collection of signatures officially started on the 10th of November 2023 and continued for one year, ending on the 9th of November 2024.
Initially, the signature collection was very good, with the parties involved quite vigorously campaigning and mobilising their supporters. Around 35 000 signatures were collected in the first month, but after that the signature collection practically stopped.
The residents of Latvia who are eligible to vote could sign the initiative on the portal “Latvija.gov.lv”, in person at the places of declaration of residence in municipalities, at orphan courts that perform notarial acts, in municipalities before the head of the parish or city administration, as well as at Latvian embassies abroad where notarial acts are performed.