Latvia, Legislation

Maris Kucinskis

The current Saeima members have learned quite much since the last elections, however, the way the general public is demanding "new faces" in politics is becoming annoying. Elsewhere, it is professionals who are wanted, but when it comes to politics, people without any prior experience are preferred by the public. In the past, former local government members who were elected to the parliament cooperated when regulations on local governments were being considered, regardless of whether they were members of the coalition or opposition. Now, however, there is a vacuum in Saeima, and there is every opportunity for the regional parties' alliance to fill this empty space, believes Kucinskis.

Kucinskis emphasizes that almost all large cities' mayors were re-elected during the municipal elections. This proves that people are aware of the local governments' work and appreciate it, preferring stability to uncertainty and risk. All the mayors of Latvia's large cities have accomplished rather much. However, Saeima elections will be a different matter altogether.

The creation of regional political parties before the local government elections was an objective necessity, believes Kucinskis. People in the regions hate all the central political parties, but they approve of local politicians coming back to their home towns and regions.

In terms of national politics, creation of regional parties is not right, but it had to be done due to the ruling coalition parties' record low popularity ratings, explains Kucinskis. People in the regions know very little about Unity and practically nothing about the Reform Party. The success of the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) during the municipal elections, on the other hand, may be attributed to the fact that ZZS previously strongly opposed regions' mergers by order of the government.

However, to create a united and influential party of regions, which would be elected to the next parliament and could therefore protect local governments' interests, will be very hard to do, believes Kucinskis. In the long term, such a party will have major problems in its work and in keeping promises to voters, as people in regional parties represent vastly different interests. Nevertheless, it is possible to create such a party, but first the core of the party must be created, says Kucinskis, adding that he would like to work on such a project.

Kucinskis also tells LETA that a strong regional party will be impossible to create without Riga Vice Mayor Andris Ameriks' Honor To Serve Riga party.

Kucinskis also notes that many regional parties choose the easy way instead of uniting - they simply create joint tickets with some of the major political parties. This method has been successful for the For Latvia and Ventspils party and Liepaja Party.