Over 170,000 Latvian signatures collected to amend Latvian pension law

RIGA - More than 170,000signatures have been collected in support of draft amendments to Latvia'spension law, Latvia'schief election official told public radio Friday.

After counting signatures collected in Rigaand Riga region the total number ofsignatures has come to 170,342, Latvia'sCentral Election Commission head Arnis Cimdars said.

The election authority has yet to add to the number of signatures collectedin Latvia fromApril 16 to May 15 as well as the signatures gathered in foreign countries, and12,161 signatures, certified by notaries, that were submitted to initiate theofficial signature collection campaign.

Concurrently, to obtain the final result, the Central Election Commissionwill verify the lists of signatures to check if all signers are eligible votersand whether somebody has not signed twice. The verification is expected to befinished in three weeks.

Preliminary results suggest that the number of signatures collected in thecampaign has topped the necessary minimum by 20,000. It was necessary tocollect at least 149,064 signatures of eligible voters or 10 percent of Latvia'svoting population during last general election to initiate the legislativeprocedure.

The draft amendments to the pension law will now be submitted to theparliament.

The draft amendments to the pension law was submitted on Feb. 18 by the NGOSociety for Other Politics and LawfulState and the Pensioners andSeniors Party, having collected signatures of 11,989 voters. The proposedamendments would raise minimum pensions to the level of Latvia'ssubsistence minimum.