This is the last article you can read this month
You can read more article this month
You can read more articles this month
Sorry your limit is up for this month
Reset on:
Please help support the Morning Star by subscribing here
LATVIA’S centre-right coalition failed to whip up enough Russophobia to knock the Harmony party off its electoral perch, results Sunday showed.
With most parliamentary election votes counted the centre-left party had slipped around 5 per cent and lost six seats, but remained the biggest single party with 23.3 per cent.
The three coalition partners — Unity, Union of Greens and Farmers and National Alliance — took about 65 per cent of the vote and looked likely continue with the current set-up, though talks will take place this week.
Around a third of Latvia’s population is ethnically Russian, but around 300,000 are “non-citizens” and barred from voting, having failed to pass citizenship tests and speak Latvian.
Events in nearby Ukraine overshadowed the vote and there were suggestions that Harmony leader Nil Ushakov’s enthusiasm for Russian President Vladimir Putin may have held back the party’s bid to continue making inroads with left-wing ethnic Latvians.
