Latvian Parliament passes law to regulate Presidential

UNCLAS RIGA 000322

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV LG
SUBJECT: Latvian Parliament passes law to regulate Presidential
election



1. Summary: On May 3, two months before the July 7 expiration of the
term of office of President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, the Saeima
(parliament) unanimously passed the Presidential Election Law
initiated by the serving President. The new law, apart from
expanding the eligibility criteria provided by the Constitution,
outlines procedures for the presidential nomination, repeated and
extraordinary elections. The upcoming presidential elections, which
are expected to take place on June 6, will be regulated by the new
law. Since the ruling coalition has not managed to agree on fielding
a common candidate for the first round of elections, it is possible
that no winner will be decided that day and a second round of
balloting will be required, likely the week of June 17. End
summary..


2. The four presidential elections which have taken place since
Latvia regained independence in 1991 have been regulated by general
provisions provided by the Constitution and tradition. President
Vike-Freiberga suggested that a more orderly process was needed and
proposed legislation, which was adopted without much change. The
new law reiterates the Constitutional requirements for the
President; the candidate must be age 40 and cannot be a dual
citizen. The law adds seven disqualifying conditions, including a
ban on service in the security services of the USSR, Soviet
Socialist Republic of Latvia or any foreign country, or membership
in the Communist party or affiliated groups after January 13, 1991.



3. The law also provides a calendar for the process. We have
provided the dates in which these events will fall in this cycle
based on the July 7 expiration of Vike-Freiberga's term.
Nominations for post of the President are made by members of
Parliament and shall be submitted to the Saeima Presidium in writing
not earlier than 50 days (19 May) and not later than 45 (24 May)
days before the expiration of the term of an outgoing President.
The Saeima's Presidium is responsible for setting a day for the
Saeima to vote on the candidates not earlier than 40 days (29 May)
and not later than 30 days (8 June) before the expiration of the
term of an outgoing President. Parliamentary and political sources
all say the vote will take place on June 6.

4. The Constitution requires an absolute majority of 51 votes in the
100-member Saeima to elect the President. According to the law, on
a single day of voting repeated rounds of balloting are to be held
if any of the candidates fails to collect 51 votes, with the
candidate getting the least number of votes in each round being
dropped from the next round. As lawmakers can submit blank ballots
and the ruling coalition has not yet agreed on a single candidate,
it is possible that no candidate will emerge victorious on June 6.
In that case, the process starts over again. New nominations would
have to be made not later than 5 days after the last round of the
elections, or June 12 based on the current calendar. Candidates who
were eliminated in the first round of voting can be nominated again.
The Saeima Presidium convenes a Saeima session for new elections
not earlier than 10 days (17 June) and not later than 15 days (22
June) after the last election round. The elections are repeated in
compliance with the above mentioned procedure until a candidate
receives 51 votes.


5. The law also provides for procedures for extraordinary
presidential elections to be held in the event that the sitting
President resigns, dies or is removed from office. Previously,
Latvia had no legal arrangements for selecting a new President in
these situations.


6. Comment: Until now the only effective legal norms regulating
presidential elections have been provided by the Constitution. The
repeated calls of President Vike-Freiberga to set clear procedures
and deadlines for presidential elections were ignored by politicians
until the President exercised her rights to order a national
referendum concerning the controversial amendments to the security
laws in March. In response, the Saeima not only abolished the
adopted amendments to the security laws, but also adopted the
Presidential Election Law. While the law was designed to increase
transparency in the election process and allow for greater public
discussion of candidates, there remains little clarity about who the
candidates will be. To date, only the coalition-leading People's
Party (TP) and opposition New Era (JL) have put forward names. TP
has nominated Maris Riekstins, fomer Latvian Ambassador to the US
and current chief of staff to the Prime Minister JL has put forward
former FM and EU commissioner Sandra Kalniete. Other names that have
surfaced include EU Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, President of the
Bank of Latvia Ilmars Rimsevics, judge of the European Court of
Justice Egils Levits, former Chair of the Constitutional Court
Aivars Endzins, Chair of the Supreme Court Andris Gulans, and head
of the Latvian Institute Ojars Kalnins. However, none of these
candidates have been openly supported by any political party.

BAILEY