{"id":644710,"date":"2026-10-04T17:56:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T17:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/644710\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T17:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T17:56:14","slug":"latvian-pm-on-track-to-lead-pro-ukraine-coalition-after-election-win-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/644710\/","title":{"rendered":"Latvian PM on track to lead pro-Ukraine coalition after election win \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Latvian prime minister Andris Kulbergs was set to retain power and form a pro-Ukrainian<\/a> coalition \u200cafter his centrist United List secured the biggest parliamentary election victory since Latvia<\/a> regained independence in 1991.<\/p>\n

With 97 per cent of ballots counted after Saturday\u2019s election in the Nato<\/a> \u200band EU country bordering Russia<\/a>, United List was on 35.3 per cent, enough for 42 seats in the 100-seat parliament.<\/p>\n

A businessman and amateur rally driver, Kulbergs (47), came to power in May after the previous coalition crumbled over its handling of incidents in which stray Ukrainian military drones flew undetected into \u200bLatvia.<\/p>\n

Latvia\u2019s economy has underperformed its Baltic neighbours for more than a decade and Kulbergs has vowed to improve governance, cut red tape and reduce public spending, \u2060political scientist Roberts Kits said.<\/p>\n

\u201cKulbergs played on being a get-things-done type of guy and has persuaded the voters that \u200che \u200ccan \u200bdo things differently, bring some fresh energy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis means the responsibility is huge. People expect him to deliver, but the question remains whether he has the team to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

United List \u2060appeared able to secure a parliamentary majority with \u200beither the nationalist National Alliance or the liberal Progressives, Kits said.<\/p>\n

Kulbergs pledged continuing support to Ukraine and to keep a hard line towards Moscow.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Latvians vote in election in shadow of drone incursions and war in UkraineOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cAny \u200ceconomic ties with Russia makes us weak. Yes, \u200bit can bring some extra money, but it\u2019s a weakness Russia might exploit,\u201d he told reporters at his party\u2019s headquarters \u2060on election night as supporters celebrated the scale of \u2060the win.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s remarkably good. \u200bI was not expecting such a result,\u201d Kulbergs said.<\/p>\n

\"ElectionElection officials sort ballots at a polling station during elections for Latvia’s 15th Parliament (Saeima) in Riga. Photo: Valda Kalnina\/EPA <\/p>\n

Voter turnout was 51.8 per cent, down from 59.4 per cent in 2022.<\/p>\n

United List was followed by the populist, MAGA-style Latvia First, which was on 13.1 per cent. Latvia First had courted the country\u2019s substantial ethnic Russian minority in the run-up to the vote.<\/p>\n

Third in the ranking was the pro-Russian Sovereign Power party, on 11.7 per cent, followed by the National Alliance, which promotes a hardline approach to the Kremlin, at 8.9 per cent.<\/p>\n

Throughout his campaign, Kulbergs promised more anti-drone capability for Latvia and to maintain defence spending at 5 per cent of gross domestic product, one of \u200cthe highest levels in Nato.<\/p>\n

His pro-Kremlin \u2060rivals said Latvia should stop any aid to Ukraine and instead focus on tackling cost of living issues, particularly among the country\u2019s Russian-speaking minority.<\/p>\n

\"Latvia'sLatvia’s prime minister Andris Kulbergs looks at his watch as he waits for the first exit poll results of the general election. Photo: Wojtek Radwanski\/AFP via Getty <\/p>\n

Although pro-Russian parties increased their representation, Kits said they remained sidelined and were unlikely to \u200cinfluence government policy.<\/p>\n

Latvia\u2019s ethnic Russian minority is split between those who oppose Moscow\u2019s war in Ukraine and others who voice frustration with policies at home aimed \u200bat limiting their influence on public life, which many of them see as discriminatory.<\/p>\n

Latvia, with \u200ba population of 1.9 million, is sandwiched between the Baltic Sea and Russia and Belarus to the east, with EU and Nato allies Estonia and Lithuania to the north and south. – Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Latvian prime minister Andris Kulbergs was set to retain power and form a pro-Ukrainian coalition \u200cafter his centrist…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2244,42,8870,43,3026,40,38,41,39,9688],"class_list":["post-644710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-eu","tag-headlines","tag-latvia","tag-news","tag-north-atlantic-treaty-organisation-nato","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-ukraine-crisis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}