Campaigning turns nasty before election

  • 2010-09-15
  • Staff and wire reports

RIGA - The organization Amnesty International Latvia - Delna plans to set up a pre-election Internet site, www.kandidatiuzdelnas.lv, which contains information on the reputations of politicians standing in the upcoming 10th Saeima elections, says project manager Liga Stafecka, reports news agency LETA. The database will feature short descriptions of around 210 deputy candidates - the election ticket leaders for the major parties in all electoral districts, as well as the candidates for prime minister put forward by the parties.

Information will be included on any previous activity by the candidates which is connected with unethical practices, or is possibly linked to corruption. The organization will also present a new social campaign intended to encourage voters to learn about candidates’ backgrounds and consider their appropriateness for work in parliament.

Highlighting the downward spiral, in some aspects, of politics in Latvia, on Sept. 9 threats were made to investigative journalist Lato Lapsa, who turned to the Security Police and temporarily closed several of his Internet sites, according to this week’s edition of the show “De facto” on Latvian State Television. Lapsa recently published materials, both online and in book form, revealing compromising information on politicians Ainars Slesers and Aivars Lembergs. His book on Slesers was released just last week.

During his “De facto” interview, Lapsa confirmed that “Within the last week I have turned to the Security Police after receiving threats related to my family - specifically, to my sister and her children. I received very clear threats stating that I was to suspend my journalistic work until October 3 and immediately close the Internet sites which I have been operating recently.”

Lapsa revealed that, taking into considering those circumstances, as well as the opinion of the law enforcement authorities on how to respond to the situation, the Internet pages have already been closed since Sept. 10. The sites www.rokasgramata.com, www.slesers.lv, www.minhauzens.info, and www.nozagt.com are now temporarily unavailable.

“It seems that, in accordance with recommendations, I will also probably leave this country for some time before October 3,” said Lapsa.
In addition to his recent publications on Slesers and Lembergs, Lapsa also earlier published books investigating Parex bank and the politician Andris Skele.

Fed up with the dirty and self-serving politics that have taken over the country since it regained independence, the recent annual meeting of the Association of Latvians in Europe (ALE), which took place in Amsterdam and was attended by 13 delegates from seven national organizations, passed a resolution expressing concern at the increasing alienation of citizens from the Latvian state and the country’s political processes.

Chairwoman of the organization, Dace Timmele-Luters, noted that the organization believes that the main fault lies in the recklessness and negligent attitude of Latvian politicians. Latvian diaspora organizations have invested great resources in motivating citizens to participate in the 10th Saiema elections and reduce alienation, even though mobilizing the electorate is a task which should be mainly carried out by the parties themselves.

ALE recently sent a letter to the nine largest Latvian parties, requesting answers to several questions of interest to Latvians living abroad. Having only received a response from three of the parties, the organization concludes that this bears witness to the shortcomings of the parties, as well as their tendency to ignore the electorate.

The organization calls on those parties who consider the votes of overseas Latvians to be important to be more active and decisive in cooperation with diaspora organizations, and to work on easing the process of voting for Latvians overseas. The number of Latvians abroad continues to grow due to the economic crisis and widely considered poor management of the country, forcing many to leave looking for better opportunities.