Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

elects on the national level a

legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...

. The

Saeima The Saeima () is the parliament of the Republic of Latvia. It is a unicameral parliament consisting of 100 members who are elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated to political parties which gain at least 5% of the popular v ...

has 100 members, elected for a four-year term by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

with a 5% threshold. An unmodified Sainte-Laguë method is used to allocate seats. The parliamentary elections are held on the first Saturday of October. Locally, Latvia elects municipal councils, consisting of 7 to 60 members, depending on the size of the municipality, also by

for a four-year term. Latvia has a

multi-party In political science, a multi-party system is a political system in which multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for national elections, and all have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in coa ...

system, with numerous parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

2022 parliamentary election

Latvian parliamentary elections from 1993 graph

A parliamentary election was held on 1 October 2022.

Referendums

The

Constitution of Latvia The Constitution of Latvia ( lv, Satversme) is the fundamental law of the Latvia, Republic of Latvia. Satversme is the oldest Central and Eastern Europe, Eastern or Central European constitution still in force and the sixth oldest still-funct ...

prescribes a referendum for five purposes: * recalling of the Parliament (Article 14) * acceding to the European Union (Article 68) * accepting substantial changes in the terms regarding the membership in the European Union (if requested by 50% of the Parliament) (Article 68) * accepting legislation suspended by the President (Article 72) * amending the Constitution or adopting a law (Article 78) One tenth of registered voters have the right to initiate a national referendum regarding recalling of the Parliament.

Voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Univ ...

needed is two thirds of the number of the voters who participated in the last elections for the Parliament. The Constitution imposes several restrictions on when the recall referendum can be held. It cannot be held: * one year after the parliamentary elections * one year before the parliamentary elections * six months before the presidential elections * six months after the last recall referendum. There was one such referendum - parliamentary dissolution referendum of 2011. Substantial changes in the terms regarding Latvia's membership of the European Union must be decided by a national referendum if such a referendum is requested by at least one-half of the members of the Parliament. In certain cases the President or one third of members of the Parliament have the right to suspend the proclamation of a law for a period of two months. A referendum will be held on that law if in that two-month period one tenth of the

electorate Electorate may refer to: * The people who are eligible to vote in an election, especially their number e.g. the term ''size of (the) electorate'' * The dominion of a Prince-elector in the Holy Roman Empire until 1806 * An electoral district or c ...

requests a referendum, except if the Parliament again adopts the law by three three-quarters

super-majority A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority ru ...

needed is 50% of the number of voters who participated in the last elections for the Parliament. If no referendum is requested in the two-month period, then the law is put into effect. Such a referendum has been held on three occasions: in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

and

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

The Constitution limits issues which can be submitted to a referendum. It forbids issues like budgets, taxes, military conscription, declarations of war, peace treaties, agreements with other nations, etc. One tenth of the electorate can request amendment of the Constitution or adoption of a law. If the Parliament does not accept the amendment or the draft law, then it will be submitted to a referendum. Certain parts of the Constitution can be amended only by a referendum. An absolute majority (majority of all electors, regardless of voter turnout) is required for an amendment or a draft law to pass on such a referendum. The exception is decisions regarding Latvia's membership of the EU or substantial changes in the terms of membership of the EU - those measures need a voter turnout of 50% of the number of voters who participated in the last elections for the Parliament. Amendments to the Constitution have been put to a referendum in 2 cases: in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

; the same was done for a draft law in

and a European Union membership referendum was held in 2003. There have been 13 referendums in Latvia's history: 4 in the 1923–1934 period and 9 since 1991.

References

External links

Adam Carr's Election Archive

National Elections Commission of Latvia

NSD: European Election Database - Latvia
publishes regional level election data; allows for comparisons of election results, 1990-2010 {{Latvia topics

2022 parliamentary election

Referendums

See also

References

External links