A new report analyzing Latvia's recent Saeima election, held October 6, concludes that even in the world of social media and mud-slinging campaigns, word of mouth, personal contact and old-fashioned debating are still the most important factors determining how voters place their papers in the ballot box.
The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) chief Jekabs Straume suggests that paid political advertising should be banned a month prior to the elections.
While the hacking of a social media site in Latvia on Saeima election day, October 6, made headlines, in fact the country was subjected to - and successfully repulsed - a wider cyber attack, reports Olga Dragileva of LTV's De Facto weekly investigative show.
About one-tenth of the voters in the 13th Saeima election voted for parties which didn't make it into the parliament. That is twice as much as in the 12th Saeima election.
Predictions that a very active election campaigning season would result in high voter turnout appear to have proven inaccurate, with turnout actually dropping to the lowest level since the restoration of Latvia's independence in 1991.
With nearly all the votes accounted for in Latvia's 13th Saeima elections, a clear picture of how the nation voted has emerged. The winner at the polls was the Harmony party on 19%, followed by a cluster of five other parties on 10%-14% with New Unity the only other party to scrape past the 5% threshold required to win seats in Saeima.
The first exit poll released after voting ceased in the 13th Saeima elections on October 6 suggested the largest share of the vote went to the Harmony party (19.4%), with the For Development/For! alliance (13.4%) in second place, the National Alliance (12.6%) in third position and the New Conservative Party (12.4%) in fourth.
On October 6, her 100th birthday, the astronomer, physics researcher and scientist emeritus Ilga Daube went to vote in the 13th Saeima election.
Latvians can vote in the 13th Saeima election, held on October 6, in a total of 121 locations outside Latvia in 45 countries.
How are foreign media writing about today's Saeima elections? Here is a selection.
Latvians are heading to polling stations across the country and beyond October 6 in the 13th Saeima elections.
President Raimonds Vējonis on October 5 urged Latvians to turn out in the largest possible numbers for Saeima elections taking place October 6.
The second day of advance voting in the 13th Saeima elections saw more voters taking the opportunity to cast an early ballot.
Nearly 8,000 people took the chance to vote in Latvia's Saeima elections on October 3, the first day of "early" voting at selected polling stations ahead of the main voting day on October 6.
The Baltic Center for Investigative Journalism, Re:Baltica, has released a update on the social media monitoring it has been carrying out during Latvia's election campaign season.
The Latvian Security Police - Latvia's interior security force - has already received information about possible illegal hindrance of exercising the right to freely elect members of the parliament, the Security Police said October 3.
Early-bird voters can make their ways to selected polling stations in Latvia October 3 ahead of official polling day on October 6.
Ahead of October 6 parliamentary elections we bring you some question and answer sheets from each of the 16 competing parties, listed in the order in which they will appear on ballot papers. The sixteenth and final installment concerns the Greens and Farmers Union (ZZS) of incumbent Prime Minister Māris Kučinskis.
October 6 is election day in Latvia. The country's democratic system is every bit as rigorous and complex as those in other countries with hundreds of polling stations opening across the globe, and this will be the 13th time a Saeima has been elected since the country won its independence exactly a century ago. But there are a few unusual and particularly Latvian variations on how 100 deputies are actually chosen for a four-year period. Here's how the whole thing works.
Ahead of October 6 parliamentary elections we bring you some question and answer sheets from each of the 16 competing parties, listed in the order in which they will appear on ballot papers. The fourteenth installment concerns the For an Alternative party.
Ahead of October 6 parliamentary elections we bring you some question and answer sheets from each of the 16 competing parties, listed in the order in which they will appear on ballot papers. The twelfth installment concerns the Latvian Nationalists party.
The LSM Minutes From Latvia podcast makes an election-season return with an hour-long special.
This time it's 10 questions to the Latvian Regional Alliance (LRA) party ahead of the 13th Saeima election.
Here are the answers of the For Latvia from the Heart party to ten questions about their policies.
Ahead of October 6 parliamentary elections we bring you some question and answer sheets from each of the 16 competing parties, listed in the order in which they will appear on ballot papers. The seventh installment concerns the consonant-heavy LSDSP/KDS/GKL alliance.
Ahead of October 6 parliamentary elections we bring you some question and answer sheets from each of the 16 competing parties, listed in the order in which they will appear on ballot papers. The fifth installment concerns the liberal-minded Progressives.
Ahead of October 6 parliamentary elections we bring you some question and answer sheets from each of the 16 competing parties, listed in the order in which they will appear on ballot papers. The fourth installment concerns the National Alliance, which is part of the current three-party coalition.
Ahead of October 6 parliamentary elections we bring you some question and answer sheets from each of the 16 competing parties, listed in the order in which they will appear on ballot papers. The third installment concerns the little-known Action Party.
Ahead of October 6 parliamentary elections we bring you some question and answer sheets from each of the 16 competing parties, listed in the order in which they will appear on ballot papers. First up is Latvia's Russian Union.
A government official said September 17 that so far there has been no sign of attempts to influence Latvia's election campaign by foreign powers.