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The vote on the draft legislation was held in the absence of opposition lawmakers. Still, even the absence of the opposition could not ensure a unanimous vote - the amendments were adopted with 53 votes to three and one abstention.

Under the new legislation, the total public funding allocated to one political party may not exceed EUR 800,000 a year. 

At the same time, the size of individual sponsors' donations and other payments to the parties has been significantly restricted. 

In line with the amendments, political parties who received more than 2% of votes in the previous Saeima elections will receive EUR 4.5 per vote, as well as EUR 0.5 per vote in the local elections, and EUR 0.5 per vote in the European Parliament elections.

The funding per vote received in Saeima elections has been increased from EUR 0.71 for parties that win more than 2% of the vote.

This means that in the future, funding per vote received in Saeima elections will increase 6.3 times. 

In addition, those parties that received more than 5 percent of votes in the previous Saeima elections will receive additional EUR 100,000 annually until the next parliament elections. 

The plan to significantly increase public funding for political parties has caused strong discontent not only in the public but also in some parliamentary groups who have urged either to abandon the idea or at least postpone it until the next Saeima election. 

Meanwhile, supporters of the funding increase argued that it will make political parties less dependent on sponsors and improve the quality of democracy in Latvia. 

In the coming two years, the increased payments to the political parties will require additional EUR 4 mln from the state budget.