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INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 RIGA 000761 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM LG
SUBJECT: The rules for Latvia's October 7 parliamentary elections 
 
Ref: Riga 584 
 
RIGA 00000761  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  Summary.  Latvia will hold its fifth post-Soviet elections to 
the Saeima, the 100-member parliament, on Saturday, October 7.  The 
country uses a modified proportional representation system and any 
party that collects at least five percent of votes cast nationally 
wins seats in the Saeima.  Out of nineteen parties competing, five 
to eight parties will probably be represented in a fragmented 
parliament, with no single party likely to win more than 25 or so 
seats.  End summary. 
 
¶2. Latvia will hold parliamentary elections on Saturday, October 7. 
This is the first in a series of cables on the elections and looks 
at the rules of the game. 
 
¶3.  All citizens of Latvia who are at least 18 years old have the 
right to vote except for prisoners and those legally deemed to be 
mentally incapacitated.  There are some 1.4 million voters in Latvia 
now.  Approximately seventy-eight percent of eligible voters are 
ethnic Latvians; most of the remainder (slightly less than twenty 
percent of all voters) are ethnic Russians. 
 
¶4.  Any citizen of Latvia who is at least 21 years old can run for 
the Saeima except for members of several categories spelled out in 
the election law.  In addition to prisoners and the mentally 
incapacitated, the exceptions include: current or former staff 
members of secret, intelligence and counter-intelligence services of 
the former USSR, the Latvian SSR or foreign countries and persons 
who continued to be active in the Soviet Communist party or other 
pro-Soviet organizations after January 13, 1991.  Former KGB 
informers and collaborators are not barred from standing for 
parliament. 
 
¶5.  Nineteen separate political parties submitted candidate lists 
for the elections. Latvia has strict campaign spending laws that 
limit any one party's expenditures to 280,000 Lats (roughly USD 
500,000) for the campaign.  This has led to some creative financing 
schemes somewhat akin to soft money expenditures in the U.S. 
(reftel). Voters may pick one list and make changes within that list 
only by adding "plus" signs or crossing out names. 
 
¶6.  Members are chosen from five electoral districts, corresponding 
to the four regions of Latvia (Kurzeme, Zemgale, Vidzeme and 
Latgale) with an additional district for the capital, Riga.   Based 
on population numbers, seats have been assigned to each district: 
Riga - 29, Kurzeme (western Latvia) - 14, Zemgale (central Latvia) - 
15, Vidzeme (northeastern Latvia) - 26, Latgale (southeastern 
Latvia) - 16. Candidates need not reside in the district where they 
campaign.  Moreover, parties are free (and most parties choose) to 
run some of their leading candidates in more than one district. 
Citizens are not obliged to vote in the constituency where they 
reside and some parties will bus voters to other districts where 
they think they may benefit from some additional votes.  That is a 
perfectly legal practice. 
 
¶7.  Seats are allocated within each district on the basis of 
proportional representation among those parties which receive more 
than five-percent of the vote nationwide.  The seat allocation is 
calculated within each constituency using a complex system 
considered to be weighted slightly in favor of major parties. 
Experience in the previous elections showed that the number of seats 
for each faction roughly corresponded to the percentage of votes 
received plus a share of the votes "wasted" on those parties that 
did not clear the five-percent barrier.  We expect by Sunday October 
8 to have a pretty good idea of which patries have been elected to 
parliament and how many seats each will receive. 
 
¶8.  While voters can only choose one party list, they can show 
preference or distaste for individual candidates on their chosen 
party list by marking a plus by the names of candidates they favor, 
or crossing out the ones they do not like.  Once the electoral 
commission calculates how many seats each candidate list has won in 
each of the five electoral districts, voter preferences will help 
determine which candidates actually get the seats.  The sequence of 
candidates on each list will ultimately be based on the number of 
that party's supporters either adding a "plus" or crossing out 
candidates' names. 
 
¶9.  Final results from the election, including which specific 
candidates have been elected, may take as long as two weeks. 
President Vaira Vike-Freiberga then has the constitutional 
responsibility for nominating one individual to try to set up a new 
government that he/she would head as prime minister.  The president 
is not required to choose the leader of the largest faction but is 
normally expected to allow the winners to take the first shot at 
forming a cabinet. 
 
¶10.  The new Saeima will first meet on November 7 to begin 
considering organizational matters (election of a speaker, etc.) as 
well as the proposed new government.  The current Saeima can 
continue to meet as a lame duck legislature until that time and is 
likely to do so.  The proposed new government then requires approval 
from an absolute majority of those present and voting before it can 
 
RIGA 00000761  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
take office.  Until a new team is in place, the current center-right 
minority government led by Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis will 
remain in a caretaker capacity. 
BAILEY