All four MP candidates say they have made mistake when declaring collaboration with Soviet or other foreign intelligence services

RIGA - All four candidates who had noted that they collaborated with the security services, intelligence services, or counterintelligence services of the USSR, the Latvian SSR, or any foreign country have stated that they have made mistakes in their applications to the Central Election Commission (CVK).

Oskars Babris, a candidate for the 15th Saeima from the National Alliance (NA), has not collaborated with the security services, intelligence services, or counterintelligence services of the USSR, the Latvian SSR, or any foreign country, the party informed LETA.

As the NA points out, an error was made when submitting the list to the CVK, and the political party has already asked the CVK to correct this information.

Meanwhile, the United List also insists that the entry regarding cooperation with the special services of other countries in the questionnaire submitted by Inese Zagorska to the Central Election Commission was the result of a "technical error." The United List has submitted a request to the Central Election Commission asking that the appropriate changes be made to the parliamentary candidate’s questionnaire, the political party informs.

Two other MP candidates also admitted today that they made mistakes in their applications to the CVK - Gobzema List canidate Jazeps Janisevs and Harmony Center candidate Uldis Ozolins.

Janisevs explained that the box to be checked was small. As Janisevs pointed out, he had previously run for the Saeima and had been vetted by the security services, and that he has not collaborated with the security services of the USSR, the Latvian SSR, or any foreign state’s security, intelligence, or counterintelligence agencies. Janisevs stated that he had contacted the State Security Service to request a statement confirming that he has not collaborated with the aforementioned services, and that he has also approached the Central Election Commission to correct the error.

The Central Election Commission informed LETA that it had also received a submission from Harmony Center regarding Ozolins, the political party’s candidate for the Kurzeme district, requesting that an error in the candidate’s questionnaire be corrected.

As reported, four candidates running in the 15th Saeima elections have indicated in their declarations to the CVK that they had collaborated with security, intelligence, or counterintelligence services of the former Soviet Union, the Latvian SSR, or a foreign country, according to an analysis of candidate data conducted by LETA.

The candidates declaring such collaboration include Inese Zagorska, a candidate running in the elections on the United List ticket in the Vidzeme electoral district; Jazeps Janisevs, a candidate running from the Gobzema List in the Riga electoral district; Oskars Babris, a candidate running on the National Alliance ticket in the Latgale electoral district; and Uldis Ozolins, a candidate from Harmony Center running in the Kurzeme electoral district.

Zagorska is running as number 17 in Vidzeme, Janisevs as number 21 in Riga, Babris as number 9 in Latgale, and Ozolins as number 8 in Kurzeme.

In the Central Election Commission's database, this information is published as provided by the candidate himself. The candidate's questionnaire includes a statement that the candidate is responsible for the accuracy of the information.

The acknowledgment of past collaboration alone does not automatically disqualify a candidate from running in elections. The restrictions set forth in the Saeima Election Law apply to specific categories of people, including former full-time employees of the security services of the Soviet Union or the Latvian SSR; therefore, the statement included in the candidate's declaration must be evaluated strictly according to its legal wording.

A total of 14 electoral lists have been registered for the 15th Saeima elections.