Parliamentary elections were held in
Latvia
Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
on 1 October 2022 to elect the
Fourteenth Saeima of Latvia
The Fourteenth Saeima of Latvia () was elected in the 2022 Latvian parliamentary election held on 1 October 2022.
Election
The 100 members of the Saeima are elected by open list proportional representation from five multi-member constitue ...
, following the end of the term of the
13th
In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the Musical note, note thirteen scale degrees from the root (chord), root of a chord (music), chord and also the interval (music), interval between the root and the thirteenth. The thirteenth is m ...
Saeima
The Saeima () is the parliament of the Latvia, 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 p ...
elected in 2018.
Incumbent Prime Minister
Krišjānis Kariņš
Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš (; born 13 December 1964) is a Latvian American politician who served as the prime minister of Latvia from 2019 until 2023. A linguist and businessman by profession, he previously served as Latvia's minister of Economic ...
led his
New Unity
The New Unity (, JV) is a centre-right political alliance in Latvia. Its members are Unity and four other regional parties, and it is orientated towards liberal-conservatism and liberalism.
History
Before the 2018 Latvian parliamentary ele ...
party and allies to a decisive win in the election which was seen as a decisive victory for pro-Western parties in the country. Karinš went on to form the
Second Kariņš cabinet
The second Krišjānis Kariņš' cabinet (Latvian language, Latvian: ''Kariņa 2. ministru kabinets'') was the 41st Government of Latvia, government of Latvia, sworn in on 14 December 2022 after Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš, Krišjānis Kariņš w ...
with
National Alliance National Alliance may refer to:
Electoral alliances
*National Alliance (Egypt) (2015)
* National Alliance (Ireland) (2024 onwards)
* National Alliance (Pakistan) (2002-2004)
*Nation Alliance (Turkey) (2018-2023)
Political parties and organizations ...
and
United List.
Electoral system
The 100 members of the Saeima are elected by
open list
Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a Political party, party's candidates are elected. This is as opposed to closed list, in which party lists ...
,
proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...
from five multi-member constituencies ranging in size from 12 to 36 seats and based on the
regions of Latvia, with overseas votes included in the Riga constituency. Seats are allocated using the
Sainte-Laguë method
The Webster method, also called the Sainte-Laguë method (), is a highest averages apportionment method for allocating seats in a parliament among federal states, or among parties in a party-list proportional representation system. The Sainte- ...
with a national
electoral threshold
The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of votes that a candidate or political party requires before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature.
This limit can operate in various ...
of 5%. Voters may cast "specific votes" for candidates on the list that they have voted for. This involves drawing a plus sign (+) next to the candidate's names to indicate preference (positive votes), or by crossing out names to indicate disapproval (negative votes). The number of votes for each candidate is the number of votes cast for the list, plus their number of positive votes, minus their number of negative votes. The candidates with the highest vote totals fill their party's seats.
Seat redistribution
The Central Electoral Commission is required to determine the number of Members of Parliament (MPs) to be elected using the number of eligible voters four months before the election. On 2 June 2022, the Central Electoral Commission has announced the new distribution of MPs.
Rīga
Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...
and
Vidzeme
Vidzeme (; Old Latvian orthography: ''Widda-semme'', ) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. The capital of Latvia, Riga, is situated in the southwestern part of the region. Literally meaning "the Middle Land", it is situated in north-centra ...
constituencies have both gained one seat compared to the 2018 election, while
Latgale
Latgale (; ; ; ; ; ; Belarusian Latin alphabet, Belarusian Latin: ''Łathalija''; ), also known as Latgalia or Latgallia, is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. It is the easternmost region of the country and lies north of the Daugava River. Wh ...
and
Zemgale
Semigallia is one of the Historical Latvian Lands located to the south of the Daugava and to the north of the Saule region of Samogitia. The territory is split between Latvia and Lithuania, previously inhabited by the Semigallian Baltic trib ...
constituencies have both lost one.
Parties
Lead candidates
Latvia First became the first major party to announce
Ainārs Šlesers
Ainārs Šlesers (born 22 January 1970) is a Latvian business Business oligarch, oligarch and politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of Latvia, as well as Deputy Mayor of Riga. Currently he is a member of the Saeima, Latvian Parliament and head ...
as its candidate for the position of
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
on 14 August, during the founding congress of the party.
Each of the member parties of the Union of Greens and Farmers proposed their own PM candidate to the party alliance board, and then they would decide on the one candidate for the whole party alliance. The
Latvian Farmers' Union
The Latvian Farmers' Union (, LZS) is an agrarian political party in Latvia.
Initially formed in 1917 during the period of Latvian War of Independence (as ), it was banned in 1934. It was re-established in 1990. It is positioned in the centre o ...
nominated MP
Viktors Valainis
Viktors Valainis (born 9 August 1986) is a Latvian politician of the Latvian Farmers' Union serving as Minister of Economics since 2023. From 2011 to 2023, he was a member of the Saeima
The Saeima () is the parliament of the Latvia, Repub ...
as their candidate, while the
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice.
Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...
kept its candidate secret. In the end, the Greens left the Union and joined the
United List alliance.
Overview
The table below lists parties and party alliances represented in the
13th Saeima.
Competing parties
Political parties and party alliances are able to submit their electoral lists to the Central Electoral Commission from 13 July until 2 August. So far, four lists have been submitted to and registered by the CEC.
In the table below, the number in each box indicates the number of candidates standing on the party's electoral list in the indicated constituency. The maximum number of candidates on the electoral list in each constituency equals the number of MPs to be elected plus three.
Members of the Saeima not standing for re-election
Opinion polls
Results
The
New Unity
The New Unity (, JV) is a centre-right political alliance in Latvia. Its members are Unity and four other regional parties, and it is orientated towards liberal-conservatism and liberalism.
History
Before the 2018 Latvian parliamentary ele ...
party of incumbent prime minister
Krišjānis Kariņš
Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš (; born 13 December 1964) is a Latvian American politician who served as the prime minister of Latvia from 2019 until 2023. A linguist and businessman by profession, he previously served as Latvia's minister of Economic ...
received the highest percentage of the vote (19%) and won the most seats (26). In a speech after the election, Kariņš stated that Latvia would continue to support Ukraine against Russia and he stated his preference to maintain the current
coalition government
A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...
.
The
Union of Greens and Farmers
The Union of Greens and Farmers (, ZZS) is an agrarian political alliance in Latvia. It is made up of the Latvian Farmers' Union, Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party, and For Latvia and Ventspils.
It is positioned in the centre on the ...
placed second, receiving 13% of the vote, despite leader
Aivars Lembergs
Aivars Lembergs (born 26 September 1953) is a Latvian politician, oligarch, and convicted money launderer who was the mayor of Ventspils from 1988 to 2021, a mandate from which he has been suspended since 2008. In February 2021, Lembergs was fou ...
being sentenced to five years in prison in 2021 and under sanction by the United States.
The other parties which placed above the 5% threshold to receive a seat in parliament were the
United List with 11%, the
National Alliance National Alliance may refer to:
Electoral alliances
*National Alliance (Egypt) (2015)
* National Alliance (Ireland) (2024 onwards)
* National Alliance (Pakistan) (2002-2004)
*Nation Alliance (Turkey) (2018-2023)
Political parties and organizations ...
with 9.3%,
For Stability!
For Stability! (; ST!) is a Latvian political party founded on 26 February 2021. It was founded by former members of the Riga City Council Aleksejs Rosļikovs and Valērijs Petrovs. It is a party that advocates Russian minority politics, and it ...
with 7%,
Latvia First
Latvia First (, LPV) is a right-wing populist political party in Latvia.
It was founded in August 2021 by businessman and former member of parliament, former Minister of Transport, former vice-mayor of Riga, Ainārs Šlesers. The party board ch ...
with 6%, and
The Progressives, who entered parliament for the first time with 6% of the vote.
The
wasted vote
In electoral systems, a wasted vote is any vote cast that is not "used" to elect a winner, and so is not represented in the outcome. However, the term is vague and ill-defined, having been used to refer to a wide variety of unrelated concepts ...
in this election was 29.09%.
Harmony
In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...
, who had placed first in the previous three general elections, was unable to secure any parliamentary seats, being slightly under the 5% threshold (of all votes, including invalid) with 4.9% of the vote. This has been attributed to many reasons, including internal disputes on the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
, pushing away both ethnic Latvians and ethnic
Russians
Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...
. This resulted in much of the ethnic Russian population voting for Stability!,
Sovereign Power
Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...
, and the
Latvian Russian Union
The Latvian Russian Union (LRU, , ) (LKS) is a political party in Latvia supported mainly by ethnic Russians and other Russian-speaking minorities. The co-chairpersons of the Latvian Russian Union were Miroslavs Mitrofanovs and Tatjana Ždanoka ...
.
The
Development/For!
Development/For! ( Latvian: ''Attīstībai/Par!,'' AP!) was a liberal political alliance
A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicia ...
alliance, one of the coalition members, also narrowly missed the 5% threshold by just 0.03% (with 4.97% of all votes).
Another coalition member, the Conservatives, also failed to cross the 5% threshold, receiving 3% of the vote.
By constituency
Seat distribution
Aftermath
On 3 October 2022, President
Egils Levits
Egils Levits (born 30 June 1955) is a Latvian politician, lawyer, political scientist and jurist who served as the tenth president of Latvia from 2019 to 2023. He was a List of members of the European Court of Justice, member of the European Cour ...
authorized Kariņš, the incumbent Prime Minister and leader of New Unity, to form a coalition government. New Unity explored coalition options with Union of Greens and Farmers and the Progressives, but they fell though. Kariņš formed a
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
with United List and National Alliance, sworn in on 14 December. This government lasted until proposed changes to the make-up of cabinet caused the other parties to pull out and led to Kariņš's resignation as Prime Minister in August 2023. The government was succeeded by a New Unity–Union of Greens and Farmers–Progressives
government led by Evika Siliņa, which was sworn in on 14 September 2023.
See also
*
Fourteenth Saeima of Latvia
The Fourteenth Saeima of Latvia () was elected in the 2022 Latvian parliamentary election held on 1 October 2022.
Election
The 100 members of the Saeima are elected by open list proportional representation from five multi-member constitue ...
References
{{Latvian elections
Latvia
Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
Parliamentary election
A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...
Parliamentary
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
Parliamentary elections in Latvia