LATVIA-Presidential Election Risks Gov't Stability

The Latvian parliament (Saeima) meets today to elect a new president in a vote that risks splintering the tripartite coalition gov't despite the Latvian presidency being a largely ceremonial position. The two main parties in the governing coalition - the liberal conservative New Unity and the regionalist green United List - are backing different candidates. A simple majority of 51 in the 100-member parliament is required to elect the president.

• Incumbent President Egils Levits was expected to run for a second term, but withdrew his candidacy due to the inability of the governing parties to agree on a single candidate, as well as the prospect of pro-Russian parties casting the deciding vote which risked "Latvia's Latvian and Western course,"
• United List is backing businessman and party founder Uldis Pīlēns, while New Unity is behind Edgars Rinkēvičs, who currently serves as foreign minister. The centre-left Progressives have put forward civic activist Elīna Pinto as its candidate.
• A number of parties have yet to indicate a preference for either candidate. Raivis Dzintars, head of the right-wing populist National Alliance - the smallest party of gov't - indicated in an interview on LTV thatthe composition of gov't could even change depending on the outcome of the election. The story claims that New Unity are courting the opposition agrarian Union of Greens and Farmers and encouraging the Progressives to drop Pinto's candidacy in favour of Rinkēvičs.
• Latvia, like its neighbours in the Baltic States, has proved one of the most hawkish EU members regarding Russia. The prospect of, as Levits alleges, a 'de facto coalition among pro-Kremlin-oriented and oligarch-linked political forces' seeking to select the president could do some damage to the broadly unified stance in Riga.