The latest ratings, which were made from polling 1,801 Latvian citizens from September 9 to 18 – the time when the new coalition government was being formed. They show that in September New Unity surrendered first place to the Greens and Farmers Union (ZZS) which saw its rating rise by 0.3%.
If the Saeima elections were held now, 8.3% of voters would opt for ZZS, notwithstanding its continued links to sanctioned convict Aivars Lembergs.
Just 7.7% of voters would vote for New Unity (JV). The figure is sharply down on August's figure of 10.3%, perhaps signalling that many of its traditional voters were either tired of the protracted coalition negotiations or unhappy about the new choice of partners.
Latvia In First Place (LPV), the United List (AS) and For Stability! (S!) also saw their ratings fall from August to September, while the National Alliance (NA) and Progressives (P) saw their popularity increase.
If elections were held tomorrow, all the parties in the current Saeima would be set to win seats, plus the Harmony (S) party.
But perhaps the most significant figures revealed by the latest SKDS poll is a marked rise in voters who are either undecided or do not intend to vote at all. The proportion of undecided voters rose from 20.7% in August to 26.9% in September while the figure for non-voters rose from 14.4% to 15.3%.
