A majority in the Saeima on Thursday voted against appointing Jānis Siksnis as a member of the Public Electronic Mass Media Council (SEPLP). This marks the second time that the parliament has rejected a candidate nominated by the NGO and Cabinet of Ministers Cooperation Memorandum Council.
Most parliamentary factions had already announced that they would not support Siksnis in the vote.
Those who voted against his appointment included MPs from the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS), the opposition parties United List (AS), the National Alliance, and Latvia First (LPV).
As ZZS parliamentary faction leader Harijs Rokpelnis previously told LETA, the faction had received conflicting assessments of Sikšņa’s past work from various representatives of the media sector. They also received an extensive, reasoned explanation from SEPLP member Una Klapkalne outlining why she believes Siksnis is not the right candidate for the position.
Meanwhile,
MPs from the Stability! party did not participate in the vote.
The party’s faction chair, Svetlana Čulkova, told LETA that there were many questions surrounding Siksnis and that the faction had not received clarity on whether the Russian-language content would remain in the public broadcaster.
Support for Siksnis came only from The Progressives. New Unity (JV) faction leader Edmunds Jurēvics had earlier told LETA that while the faction respects the Memorandum Council, the recent developments — including Klapkalne’s public statements and the fact that the majority in Saeima would not support Siksnis — meant that JV would take its final decision on Thursday before the vote.
JV holds 25 MPs, ZZS 16, The Progressives eight. AS has 13 MPs, the National Alliance 12, while LPV and Stability! each have eight MPs. Additionally, there are 10 independent MPs in the Saeima, some of whom support the governing coalition.
As LETA previously reported, SEPLP member Una
Klapkalne sent a letter to the leaders of the coalition factions urging them not to approve Siksnis
as the third council member. She warned that she would resign if he were appointed. As the former chair of the Latvijas Radio board, she had worked with the previous SEPLP chaired by Siksnis and observed its operations.
According to Klapkalne, decision-making and governance in the public media sector during Sikšņa’s leadership were often chaotic and poorly thought-out.
Earlier, the majority of MPs in the Saeima’s Human Rights and Public Affairs Committee also voted against supporting Sikšņa’s candidacy.
Siksnis had been selected as the best candidate in the Memorandum Council’s repeated competition for the vacancy. Unlike in the previous selection round, the Council members were required to vote openly and could not abstain. LETA reports that Siksnis had also received the highest score in the earlier competition, but the Council chose to support Ivars Belte instead.
This summer, the Saeima rejected Belte’s candidacy, requiring the Council to propose a new candidate.
Explaining his motivation to apply for the SEPLP post, Siksnis previously said that media is the field in which he has spent nearly his entire professional life. The sector interests him, and he believes he can contribute with his experience.
He also said that he sees significant differences between how the Council should operate now compared with the past four years. In his view, SEPLP should shift more towards the oversight of the public media platform LSM, which would mean that board members would no longer need to work full-time. This would imply lower salaries for SEPLP members but, according to Siksnis, would also require increasing the number of council members as its responsibilities expand.
Siksnis served as SEPLP chair until 3 August 2025.
On 19 June, Saeima appointed Una Klapkalne and Sanita Upleja-Jegermane as SEPLP board members. Upleja-Jegermane was nominated by the President, while Klapkalne was nominated by MPs. With these changes, Siksnis — originally nominated by the Memorandum Council years ago — and Jānis Eglītis, who had been nominated by the Saeima, both lost their positions.
The monthly salary of an SEPLP board member is €5,196 before tax.
SEPLP consists of three members appointed by the Saeima. One member is nominated by the President, one by the NGO–Cabinet Memorandum Council, and one by the Saeima itself. A member may serve no more than two consecutive terms.
SEPLP is an independent, autonomous institution that represents the public interest in the governance of public media.
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