Šlesers', Rosļikovs' parties stand against New Unity as coalition driver

Take note – story published 1 year and 1 month ago

The Saeima opposition parties Latvia First and For Stability!, which will meet with the President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs on Tuesday, believe the formation of the next government should not to be entrusted to the New Unity party, the parties' leaders Ainārs Šlesers and Aleksejs Rosļikovs told Latvian Television on August 22. 

Ainars Šlesers, chairman of the Saeima faction of the Latvia First party, believes that if the President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs wants to show that he is not a representative of the New Unity [he resigned his party affiliation before taking office, as is customary], then he should appoint the Prime Minister from a different political party. “If this does not happen, in principle, we will see that power is in the hands of one party – President, Prime Minister, Mayor of Rīga,” said Šlesers.

He also criticized the nomination of Welfare Minister Evika Siliņa (New Unity) for the post of Prime Minister. If she is appointed, Šlesers promised to start actively collecting signatures for a referendum on the dissolution of the Saeima.

Also the For Stability! chairman of the Saeima faction, Aleksejs Rosļikovs, expressed his desire to stop “worshiping Unity” and to look at alternative solutions in the formation of the government. He also called on the opposition Greens and Farmers Union (ZZS) to renounce their planned cooperation with New Unity.

Latvia First and For Stability! have rallied numerous times for the dissolution of the Saeima. They are highly unlikely to be asked into any government coalition that will be formed in coming weeks, but they could see voters who are tired of hearing about protracted and repetitive talks between the other parties gravitate towards them as a form of protest.

Seen a mistake?

Select text and press Ctrl+Enter to send a suggested correction to the editor

Select text and press Report a mistake to send a suggested correction to the editor

Related articles

More

Most important