Relations With The Coalition Worsen, Latvian PM Announces Resignation

Latvian Prime Minister Arturs Krij19nis Kari. (Wikimedia Commons/European Commission/Christophe Licope)

JAKARTA - Latvian Prime Minister Arturs Krisjanis Karins announced his resignation on Monday, when conditions of his government's multi-party coalition relations were said to have deteriorated.

"Thursday I will submit my resignation and this cabinet to the president," he told a news conference.

The United Baru Party, which is lined by Karins, won the national election in October 2022, obtaining 26 out of 100 seats in parliament containing seven parties.

He blamed coalition partners for "blocking jobs for prosperity and economic growth" on Monday's decision, according to a tweet on Twitter.

The Karins Party rules the European Union nation of 1.9 million people, with the support of the conservative National Alliance and United List which consists of small parties, giving him a narrow majority of parliament.

However, relations with the coalition deteriorated after failing to present a joint candidate in the presidential election in May.

On Friday, Karins made a failed effort to bring more parties into government.

They include the left-handed Progressive Party and the Greens and Farmers Union, a conservative group coalition fronted by Aivars Lembergs, the mayor of Ventspils who was added to the United States sanctions list for alleged corruption in 2019.

Meanwhile, Karins' New United Party plans to elect a prime ministerial candidate on Wednesday, he said.

President Edgars Rinkevics is responsible for giving a mandate to a new prime minister to form a government.

It is known that the next Latvian parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in 2026.

Together with neighboring countries in Baltic, Lithuania and Estonia, Latvia is at the forefront of encouraging the European Union and NATO to increase pressure on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.