Pavluts survives no-confidence vote in Saeima

RIGA - Health Minister Daniels Pavluts (Development/For) on Thursday survived a no-confidence vote in the Saeima, initiated by the opposition. 

Blaming Pavluts for a poor handling of the Covid-19 crisis, MPs Maris Micerevskis and Didzis Smits had gathered the necessary number of lawmaker's signatures under a petition initiating the no-confidence motion. The petition was also signed by several opposition MPs of the Union of Greens and Farmers and Unity.

At the end of October, Micerevskis posted a tweet calling on Pavluts to resign and criticizing Latvia's Covid-19 vaccine rollout as ineffective. 

In addition to slamming the inefficiency of the vaccination campaign, Micerevskis also emphasized the failure to introduce the traffic lights system and to increase hospitals' capacity. "We are now in a situation where mobilization of health professionals is considered, and if any of them refuse, they will face criminal liability," he said.

In the opinion of Micerevskis, the health minister has not been listening to health experts, nor have Pavluts' vaccination goals been achieved. Furthermore, hospitals are not ready for higher numbers of Covid-19 patients, and Latvia is in first place in the world in terms of new Covid-19 cases.

As reported, Micerevskis was elected to the 13th Saeima on the Development/For ticket, but later quit For Latvia's Development party, which he accused of accepting illegal donations. The party denied the allegation.

LETA also reported, the Latvian Medical Association (LAB) is demanding the resignation of Pavluts, taking into account the long-term mistakes of the Ministry of Health in crisis management and the planned announcement of the mobilization of medics.