Latvian election upheld, Supreme Court challenge fails

Nov 06, 2006
By TBT staff

RIGA - The outcome of the recent Latvian parliamentary elections has been upheld after the Supreme Court rejected a claim for annulment which was presented by four losing parties. The Supreme Court found that there had been violations during the election campaign but they were not as serious as to warrant an annulment of the elections results.

The court passed an additional ruling, recommending the government to create a specific mechanism for controlling election campaigns to avoid a repetition of the violations.

After the Supreme Court announced its decision, the four parties that submitted the claims said that would consider turning to the European Court of Human Rights.

The petition was presented by the Social Justice Party, Fatherland Union, New Democrats and Our Land, all of which failed to win any seats during the election.

The parties said they objected to dishonest election campaigning and possible violations of the law. New Democrats were the first to file their claim, complaining about the influence of certain non-governmental organizations which helped some parties circumvent restrictions on campaign costs.

Political analyst Valts Kalnins, working for Our Land party, said up to 40 percent of the electorate could have been influenced by the advertisements.

After the court ruling Kalnins said he respected the position of the court, but said the results had highlighted loopholes that had not been noticed before.

The Central Election Commission legal representative, Janis Jonass, said that the complaining parties failed to give specific reasons as to why the results should be found unlawful, and failed to give adequate explanations to the court.

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