Despite this decisive victory – much stronger than pre-election polls suggested – Kulberg will still have to negotiate with the other parties to form a majority government.
Two partners in his outgoing coalition, the conservative National Alliance and the center-right New Unity party, have crossed the 5% threshold and are expected to return to Parliament. They appear to have enough seats to achieve a majority without the Greens and Farmers’ Union, which fell below the threshold.
This gives Kulbergs a solid path to another pro-Ukrainian coalition without having to seek support from Latvia first from Šlesers, an option that had weighed on the election campaign, which was marked by high inflation, uncertainty around the struggling national airline airBaltic and instrumentalized migration orchestrated by Russia and Belarus.
Kulbergs became prime minister at the end of May after his predecessor, Evika Siliņa, resigned following backlash over stray Ukrainian drone strikes.
The final part of Latvia’s election campaign also took place in Brussels last week, where Kulbergs initially opposed an EU deal to remove Russian billionaires Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from the bloc’s sanctions list.
Latvia ultimately abstained, allowing the extension of the broader sanctions regime after a compromise between EU countries.
Gn world
