REFERENDUM ON SECURITY LAWS FAILS TO RECEIVE NEEDED TURNOUT

UNCLAS RIGA 000515 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV LG SUBJECT: REFERENDUM ON SECURITY LAWS FAILS TO RECEIVE NEEDED TURNOUT Ref: Riga 344, Riga 192 ¶1. The national referendum held July 7 on two controversial amendments to Latvia's security laws failed to receive the required voter turnout and will not be valid, though legally this was a mute point. The vote was set in motion when President Vaira Vike-Freiberga suspended promulgation of two Saeima (Parliament)-approved amendments in March, arguing that adoption of the amendments could result in abuse of power by the government and political forces over national security agencies, and initiated a signature drive that successfully called for the national referendum (see reftels for further background). The Saeima subsequently revoked the two amendments, but the Constitution contains no mechanism for the cancellation of a referendum once put in motion. The referendum received 338,231 votes (roughly 40% of voters who participated in the last election),115,499 shy of the Constitutionally-required votes needed for validity. However, as a moral-victory for referendum proponents, 96% of the votes cast were in favour of reversing the security law changes. ¶2. Opposition parties, namely New Era (JL),had hoped that strong passage of the referendum would be seen as a vote of no confidence against the ruling coalition, and New Era leaders have called for the resignation of the government. The Prime Minister and ruling parties discount interpreting the vote in such a manner and state that they maintain the trust of the people. ¶3. Comment: The referendum was held at a time when many Latvians were on summer holiday, away on weekends in the country, or celebrating 7/7/07 weddings. In that light, it is significant, and should put the government on notice, that over 300,000 people would turn out to vote. But in the end, a feeling that the vote did not matter after parliament revoked the amendments and the lack of a significant "get out the vote" effort, combined with a great summer day, meant that not enough people saw the need to vote. Although the government will not fall over the referendum, the entire course of action on the security laws over the past six months has sent a clear message that the people of Latvia are watching and will speak up when there are issues that concern them. A calculation by the coalition that no one would notice or care about their actions in amending rather obscure and technical regulations for managing the security services was proven wrong. And that, at least, is a step forward on behalf of the health of Latvia's democracy.