President urges voters to be on guard against populism ahead of Saeima elections

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As the forthcoming Saeima elections in October 2022 approach, President Egils Levits urged voters to think about the composition of the next parliament, and said populist political forces offer a potential threat to Latvia's democracy.

Speaking on Latvian Radio's "Krustpunkta" (Crossroads) show, Levits said that one of the biggest threats to Latvia's democracy is populism.

"And we see what happens when populists are elected to parliament. Not only in Latvia, but elsewhere. They collapse. They are not capable of meaningful politics. And simply wasting your voice and creating difficulties for the parliament and the state for the next four years is not very responsible,” said Levits.

In his opinion, this is one of the reasons why it is difficult to develop high quality long-term policy in Latvia.

The president therefore urged voters to evaluate party proposals, promises and programs next year before voting, to see if they were populist in nature or not.

At the same time, looking at recent history, Levits pointed out that since 1993, 10-20% of voters have voted for the populist parties in every election. "My prediction is that populists will not be more successful than before," said the president.

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