Ainārs Šlesers, leader of the party Latvia First (LPV), which won the Riga City Council elections, does not recognize the results of the municipal elections, claiming that Saturday’s vote was “stolen” and therefore a new election should be held.
In a live broadcast on social media this morning, Šlesers announced that he does not accept the results of the elections in the capital. However, he did not clarify whether LPV has officially contested the results with the Central Election Commission (CEC). According to him, everything possible was done on Saturday to prevent him from leading the city council.
The politician is convinced that the election was “stolen,” and therefore the party will take action to push for new – extraordinary – elections in Riga.
Šlesers emphasized that he cannot trust law enforcement institutions, which he claims are under the control of the New Unity party. He also believes that various forms of repression will be directed against him and his supporters to silence them.
LPV will submit a demand for the resignation of the government in the Saeima, and will also present the same request to President Edgars Rinkēvičs.
The LPV also stated in its press release that the party will submit a request to the Prosecutor General’s Office regarding “the falsification of results on election night”. At the same time, the faction indicates that tomorrow, the 11th of June, it will submit a request to the Saeima for the resignation of Prime Minister Evika Siliņa (JV).
“This government, led by Prime Minister Evika Siliņa, is no longer legitimate and must take full responsibility for the falsification of the election results,” the faction said, adding that “the country needs a new professional government that can organise extraordinary local elections in Riga”.
A “nationwide protest” against the stolen election is also planned. The event will take place on Sunday, the 15th of June, at 3:00 PM at the Freedom Monument in Riga. Šlesers stressed that as many people as possible should attend so that the authorities cannot claim that “there are too few of us.”
“I do not recognize the election results, we will not accept fraud,” Šlesers concluded.
As reported, the vote counting in the 2025 municipal elections on Saturday and into Sunday night encountered technical issues. Problems with the operation of polling stations due to technical failures were also reported earlier in the week during early voting.
At present, no internal investigation into the vote counting issues has been launched, as all necessary and available information must first be gathered, said State Chancellery Director Raivis Kronbergs on Monday after an inter-institutional task force meeting.
He noted that as recently as last week, there was confidence that everything would function properly, as there had been no indication that anything might go wrong. “If we hadn’t been sure of that, we would have made decisions earlier,” he added, reiterating that there were no signs that “the system would fail.”
Central Election Commission (CEC) Chair Kristīne Saulīte stated that “if there had been even the slightest indication that the systems were not ready or something might not work, the responsible authorities would have immediately decided to count the votes manually.”
“There were no indications, so we proceeded with the plan,” Saulīte asserted.
The CEC chair pointed out that all election results have been confirmed and there is currently no reason to believe they are inaccurate. To ensure result accuracy, there are “several control systems” in place, she said.
Speaking about her own responsibility, Saulīte said she is ready to take full responsibility for areas within her competence, but currently, the discussion is about technical issues that are not within the CEC’s purview.
Meanwhile, the State Agency for Digital Affairs (VDAA) has launched a detailed investigation at all levels of the agency’s responsibility – from the employees directly responsible for the election system to developers and auditors – into the reasons behind the slow processing of ballot scans, VDAA Administrative Department cooperation project manager Agnese Tkačenko told LETA.
Smart Administration and Regional Development Minister Inga Bērziņa (New Unity) announced on Monday that she would suspend VDAA Director Jorens Liopa from his position.
Liopa himself stated on Monday morning, after the inter-institutional task force meeting, that he had not yet seen the announcement, only heard about it. He also noted that there is now a need to re-evaluate how projects of this scale are implemented.
“It’s not within my competence to assess the minister’s actions,” Liopa said in response to a question on whether he thought the minister acted prematurely.