Sacking poisons coalition

Prime Minister Andris Berzins fired his interior minister Sept. 30 in a feud that has poisoned relations between two key coalition partners just days ahead of the general election.

Berzins demanded Interior Minister Mareks Seglins step down after police arrested two members of the prime minister's Latvia's Way party for allegedly distributing leaflets that labeled government partner the People's Party a "gang of thieves."

The two center-right parties are the biggest parties in the outgoing coalition government. Latvians will elect a new Parliament on Oct. 5.

Latvia's Way accused Seglins, a member of the People's Party, of using his position to arrange the detentions in an attempt to discredit Latvia's Way.

"Seglins used his duties to fulfill a political order before the election," said Berzins' spokesman Arnis Lapins. "No evidence was found and the ministry committed a number of violations of the law in making these detentions."

Police said arrests of the two Latvia's Way officials, including campaign director Ervins Straupe, and two employees of the Riga publishing firm Adverts were connected to a criminal investigation opened Sept. 18 over the distribution of 40,000 anti-People's Party leaflets in Valmiera and Cesis.

The leaflets called the People's Party "a team of thieves" and accused individual members of stealing millions of lats from the state.

The four people detained are suspected of violating a law on disseminating false information about political candidates. If charged and found guilty, they could face up to three years in jail, said a spokeswoman for the prosecutor general.

Two were released Oct. 1, but police are still holding Straupe and Igors Svans, head of Adverts.

Latvia's Way lawmaker Ivars Godmanis said Seglins acted improperly by using state structures to play politics and said the once-close relationship between the two parties was now in tatters.

"The relationship is being poisoned with every passing minute," he said.

Seglins denied any political intent in the case, saying he hadn't learned about the arrest for several hours and did not know about Latvia's Way's alleged connection.

He called his firing an example of Berzins' "moral bankruptcy."

"It was his last cry before leaving office," Seglins said.

Latvia's Way has asked the prosecutor to examine the incident.

The row between the two parties may have major implications for Latvia's next government. If the two parties refuse to cooperate, it could make it much harder to form a workable government.

Up to seven parties are considered likely to win seats in the 100-member Saeima (Latvia's parliament), and the two parties vying for the lead in public opinion polls -- former central bank head Einars Repse's New Era party and the People's Party -- have been cool to the idea of working together.

Latvia's Way, meanwhile, has been struggling to stay above the 5 percent mark necessary for representation in the legislature.

"This will definitely sever ties between the two parties," said Janis Ikstens, a political science professor at Vidzeme University in Valmiera, adding that the scandal might keep Latvia's Way out of Parliament altogether.

He blamed the scandal on either the People's Party itself or a third party intent on driving the two center-right forces apart.

Defense Minister Girts Kristovskis, a member of junior coalition partner For Fatherland and Freedom, was appointed interim interior minister.

The People's Party has said it will not pull out of the government but warned that Berzins could no longer count on its unquestioned support.

This could prove significant if postelection coalition-building drags on for several months the way it did following 1998 elections.

Latvia is expected to win an invitation to NATO in November and hopes to wrap up membership negotiations with the European Union by year's end.