Demonstration planned to demand snap elections

RIGA - A rally is being planned by the Saeima building on Tuesday, January 22, to demand snap parliamentary elections, according to information posted by Facebook group Latvijas Tautas Demonstracija (Latvian People’s Demonstration), which in recent weeks has been busily organizing the event.

The aim of the demonstration, according to an application to the Riga City Council, is to resist the government currently formed by prime minister nominee Krisjanis Karins (New Unity). Demonstrators are also going to object to the rights of politicians who are not elected to Saeima to hold ministerial positions, as well as to demand snap elections.

Participants of the rally are asked to wear yellow vests like the ones that are used in the mass protests in France. Yellow and orange vests were also used by some of the people who joined a demonstration organized last weekend by Latvia’s Russian Union, a pro-Kremlin political party led by Tatjana Zdanoka.

In its Facebook posts, the group actively criticizes the government formation process, expressing special support for KPV LV party’s candidate for prime minister Aldis Gobzems. In early December, the group already staged a picket in Riga in Gobzems’ support.

Gobzems has shared the Facebook group’s call for the rally and said in his post on the social network that the New Unity-led Cabinet “is already the least popular government of all time”.

Representatives of the Riga City Council confirmed to LETA that a picket has been announced by the Saeima building for January 22, with around 200 participants expected to take part in the event.