Baltic States – CIS, Latvia, Legislation

The Central Election Commission's Chairman Arnis Cimdars told LETA that a total of 146,000 citizens had signed the petition by 5 p.m. yesterday demanding that the Constitution be amended by granting the status of a state language for Russian.

12,533 signatures collected during the first round of the signature drive should be added to this number, therefore, the total number of signatures necessary for staging the referendum may have been collected.

It is yet to be determined though whether any of those who signed the petition during the first round of signature drive did not do so again during the second round, noted Cimdars, adding that signatures were still being entered into the Election Commission's computer system.

The Central Election Commission has so far been reported information on 178,000 signatures collected for staging a referendum on granting the status of a state language to Russian, the commission's chairman Arnis Cimdars told LETA.

The signatures are being entered into the Central Election Commission's computer system, and preliminary data will likely be announced in the afternoon today. The final results of the signature drive will be presented after all the signatures are verified, in three to four weeks, said Cimdars.