Parliamentary elections were held in Latvia on 1 October 2022 to elect the Fourteenth Saeima of Latvia, following the end of the term of the 13th Saeima elected in 2018.
Incumbent Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš led his New Unity party and allies to a decisive win in the election which was seen as a decisive victory for pro-Western parties in the country. Karinš went on to form the Second Kariņš cabinet with National Alliance and United List.
Electoral system The 100 members of the Saeima are elected by open list, proportional representation from five multi-member constituencies ranging in size from 12 to 36 seats and based on the regions of Latvia, with overseas votes included in the Riga constituency. Seats are allocated using the Sainte-Laguë method with a national electoral threshold of 5%. Voters may cast "specific votes" for candidates on the list that they have voted for. This involves drawing a plus sign (+) next to the candidate's names to indicate preference (positive votes), or by crossing out names to indicate disapproval (negative votes). The number of votes for each candidate is the number of votes cast for the list, plus their number of positive votes, minus their number of negative votes. The candidates with the highest vote totals fill their party's seats.Electoral system IPU
Seat redistribution The Central Electoral Commission is required to determine the number of Members of Parliament (MPs) to be elected using the number of eligible voters four months before the election. On 2 June 2022, the Central Electoral Commission has announced the new distribution of MPs. Rīga and Vidzeme constituencies have both gained one seat compared to the 2018 election, while Latgale and Zemgale constituencies have both lost one. June 2022 redistributionConstituencySeatsChangeRīga36 1Vidzeme26 1Latgale13 1Zemgale13 1Kurzeme12Total100
Parties
Lead candidates Latvia First became the first major party to announce Ainārs Šlesers as its candidate for the position of Prime Minister on 14 August, during the founding congress of the party.
Each of the member parties of the Union of Greens and Farmers proposed their own PM candidate to the party alliance board, and then they would decide on the one candidate for the whole party alliance. The Latvian Farmers' Union nominated MP Viktors Valainis as their candidate, while the Green Party kept its candidate secret. In the end, the Greens left the Union and joined the United List alliance.
Overview The table below lists parties and party alliances represented in the 13th Saeima. Name Ideology PM candidate Leader(s) 2018 result Seats at dissolution Votes (%) Seats S HarmonySaskaņa Social democracyRussian minority politics Ivars Zariņš Jānis Urbanovičs 19.8% K The ConservativesKonservatīvie Liberal conservatism Jānis Bordāns 13.6% AP! Development/For!Attīstībai/Par! Liberalism Artis Pabriks Daniels PavļutsArtūrs Toms Plešs 12.0% NA National AllianceNacionālā apvienība National conservatismRight-wing populism Uģis Mitrevics Raivis Dzintars 11.0% JV New UnityJaunā Vienotība Liberal conservatism Krišjānis Kariņš 6.7% ZZS Union of Greens and FarmersZaļo un zemnieku savienība AgrarianismConservatism Aivars Lembergs Armands Krauze 9.9% AS United ListApvienotais sarakstsRegionalismGreen conservatismUldis PīlēnsEdgars TavarsEdvards Smiltēnsdid not exist R RepublicRepublika CentrismSandis Ģirģens did not exist KuK For Each and Every OneKatram un katrai Right-wing populismAldis Gobzems did not exist LPVLatvia FirstLatvija pirmajā vietāSocial conservatismAinārs Šlesersdid not existSVSovereign PowerSuverēnā varaChristian rightTBDJūlija Stepaņenkodid not exist PCL For a Humane LatviaPar cilvēcīgu Latviju Right-wing populismConservatism TBD Jurģis Miezainis 14.3%
Competing parties Political parties and party alliances are able to submit their electoral lists to the Central Electoral Commission from 13 July until 2 August. So far, four lists have been submitted to and registered by the CEC.
In the table below, the number in each box indicates the number of candidates standing on the party's electoral list in the indicated constituency. The maximum number of candidates on the electoral list in each constituency equals the number of MPs to be elected plus three.
Party Ideology PM candidate Constituency Date submitted Source Rīga Vidzeme Latgale Kurzeme Zemgale Total Development/For! (AP!) LiberalismCentre to centre-rightA. Pabriks & M. Golubeva 39 29 16 15 16 115 13 July For Stability! (S!) PopulismCentreAleksejs Rosļikovs 30 12 10 5 8 65 13 July Social Democratic Party "Harmony" (S)
Socialist Party of LatviaSocial democracyCentre-leftIvars Zariņš 30 16 16 15 10 87 18 July The Progressives (P) Social democracyCentre-leftKaspars Briškens 39 29 16 15 16 115 20 July New Unity (JV) Liberal conservatismCentre-rightKrišjānis Kariņš 39 29 16 15 16 115 25 July Latvia First (LPV)
Honor to Serve RigaRight-wing populismRight-wingAinārs Šlesers 39 29 16 15 16 115 25 July United List (AS) RegionalismCentre to centre-rightUldis Pīlēns 39 29 16 15 16 115 26 July National Alliance (NA) National conservatismRight-wingUģis Mitrevics 39 29 16 15 16 115 26 July Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) AgrarianismCentreAivars Lembergs 39 29 16 15 16 115 27 July For Each and Every One (KuK) Social conservatismRight-wingAldis Gobzems 39 29 16 15 16 115 27 July Latvian Russian Union (LKS) Russian minority politicsCentreMiroslavs Mitrofanovs 38 22 16 11 15 102 29 July Republic (R) CentrismCentreSandis Ģirģens 39 29 16 15 16 115 29 July The Conservatives (K) Liberal conservatismCentre-rightJānis Bordāns 39 29 16 15 16 115 29 July Sovereign Power (SV) Christian rightRight-wingJūlija Stepaņenko 39 24 16 11 10 100 1 August Force of People's Power (TVS) ConspiracismFar-rightValentīns Jeremejevs 39 28 16 15 16 114 1 August People's Servants for Latvia (TKL) PopulismCentreEdgars Kramiņš 34 17 11 8 12 82 1 August Union for Latvia (AL)
Heritage of the FatherlandRight-wing populismRight-wingMāris Možvillo28201267732 AugustProgressive Christian Party (KPP)Christian democracyCentre-rightAndrejs Krasņikovs124555312 AugustUnited for Latvia (VL)PopulismCentre-rightTBD107344282 August Maximum candidates 39 29 16 15 16 115
Members of the Saeima not standing for re-election List of MPs who announced they will not stand for re-election in 2022MPConstituencyFirst elected PartyDate announcedMārtiņš BondarsLatgale2014AP!31 May 2022Inga GoldbergaLatgale2018S6 June 2022Inguna RībenaZemgale2002Ind.14 June 2022Reinis ZnotiņšRīga2018K7 July 2022Vladimirs NikonovsLatgale2010S18 July 2022Dagmāra Beitnere-Le GallaVidzeme2018K21 July 2022Atis LejiņšZemgale2010JV25 July 2022Janīna JalinskaLatgale2018AS26 July 2022Ivars PugaRīga2018NA26 July 2022Jānis DūklavsLatgale2010ZZS27 July 2022
Opinion polls
Results The New Unity party of incumbent prime minister Krišjānis Kariņš received the highest percentage of the vote (19%) and won the most seats (26). In a speech after the election, Kariņš stated that Latvia would continue to support Ukraine against Russia and he stated his preference to maintain the current coalition government. The Union of Greens and Farmers placed second, receiving 13% of the vote, despite leader Aivars Lembergs being sentenced to five years in prison in 2021 and under sanction by the United States. The other parties which placed above the 5% threshold to receive a seat in parliament were the United List with 11%, the National Alliance with 9.3%, For Stability! with 7%, Latvia First with 6%, and The Progressives, who entered parliament for the first time with 6% of the vote.
The wasted vote in this election was 29.09%. Harmony, who had placed first in the previous three general elections, was unable to secure any parliamentary seats, being slightly under the 5% threshold (of all votes, including invalid) with 4.9% of the vote. This has been attributed to many reasons, including internal disputes on the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, pushing away both ethnic Latvians and ethnic Russians. This resulted in much of the ethnic Russian population voting for Stability!, Sovereign Power, and the Latvian Russian Union. The Development/For! alliance, one of the coalition members, also narrowly missed the 5% threshold by just 0.03% (with 4.97% of all votes). Another coalition member, the Conservatives, also failed to cross the 5% threshold, receiving 3% of the vote.
By constituency ConstituencyJVZZSASNAS!LPVPRiga20.595.516.917.149.158.599.05Vidzeme23.4612.1012.6211.393.045.145.95Latgale6.9714.545.125.7818.566.532.46Zemgale18.7519.5512.4212.163.024.564.35Kurzeme16.4421.1022.0510.252.174.274.80Total19.1612.6611.009.386.916.316.23
Seat distribution
ConstituencyJVZZSASNAS!LPVPTotalRiga1134454536Vidzeme845412226Latgale231141113Zemgale332211113Kurzeme23321112Total2616151311910100
List of elected Deputies