MP dies in Parliament

  • 2000-02-03
  • By Blake Lambert
RIGA - A 71-year-old Member of Parliament died on Jan. 27 after suffering a heart attack during a legislative session.

Leonards Stass, who belonged to the Latvian Social Democrat Workers Party, was born in Ludza in Latgale on Jan. 16, 1929.

A popular politician, he sat in three consecutive Parliaments after Latvia reclaimed its independence in 1991: He spent his first two terms as a member of the National Harmony Party.

Risards Labanovskis sat beside Stass in Parliament, where the MP first became ill, and in the party's office across the street.

"(Stass) stood up and said that he felt bad and that he was going to the doctor. After half and hour in this room, he felt quite bad," said Labanovskis, a MP with the Social Democrats. "It was a heart attack. Then he called the doctor and he was driven to the hospital There he died because it was very serious."

According to Anita Dudina, head of Parliament's information department, it was the first time an MP died as a result of a heart attack in a session.

Once MPs learned of Stass' death on Jan. 27, they interrupted their proceedings and held a moment of silence.

"It's hard for every person who's working in this house in any capacity," said Dudina.

Parliament held a special ceremony to mark his passing on Jan. 31 which included all the governing parties.

Afterwards, MPs met with Stass' family: a wife, a daughter and grandchildren.

At press time, his funeral was scheduled for Ludza, his home village, on Feb. 2; MPs from the Social Democrats were expected to attend.

The veteran MP's death did not appear to shock too many people as he suffered from some health complications over the last few months, though none with his heart.

"He was rather old and not so active now as he was some years earlier," said Labanovskis.

Nevertheless, he said Stass was loved by people in Latgale who first knew him as a chairman of a collective farm, one of the most successful in Latvia.

"People said that for them it was not important in which party was Mr. Stass, but that he himself is important for them. That such a man as Stass is a candidate for Parliament," said Labanovskis.

"Our political culture is not so high now that most people look to a person and vote for you, I, but not as a representative of a political party."

Educated in agriculture and biology, Stass achieved success before Latgale became Latvia's economic black hole.

Yet according to Labanovskis, in recent years he grew increasingly dissatisfied with the agricultural sector.

"Because he was always about cooperation," said Labanovskis. "But there were many mistakes with privatization in our country. Now many fields not only in Latgale but all over Latvia are untilled."

On Feb. 3. Stass will be officially replaced in Parliament by 42-year-old Valdis Lauskis, a Daugavpils native and the deputy chair of the Social Democrats.