There is no deadlock yet in government formation talks - Dzintars

RIGA - The government formation after elections has never been easy and fast, and the society should not be worried about a possible deadlock right now in the government formation talks, said National Alliance's leader Raivis Dzintars in an interview with the Latvian public television today.

There are coalition formation talks underway and the main issue now is whether the New Unity, the National Alliance and the United List will cooperate with the Progressives in the government. New Unity stands for a broader coalition, while the National Alliance and the United List are skeptical about it, naming ideological disagreements as the reason.

Asked about the arguments against cooperation with the Progressives, Dzintars said that both parties have completely different opinions about migration, the official language and non-citizens. Also on the European level, the Progressives are leftist partners, which makes cooperation with them doubtful.

Asked whether the National Alliance will meet with the Progressives, Dzintars said that the National Alliance will not initiate such a meeting. However, if the Progressives will invite the party to a meeting, it will not reject the invitation because "we are not arrogant".

Speaking about the 54 votes at the parliament of the three parties - the New Unity, the United List and the National Alliance - Dzintars said that stability of the government does not solely depend on the number of votes, but also on relations among coalition partners. 

Dzintars said that the potential coalition partners have discussed positions and candidates for ministers only on informal level, therefore he would not comment on it. He did not answer a question whether the National Alliance will repeatedly nominate Kaspars Gerhards for the agricultural minister even though he did not run at the elections. The politician just said that if a party has been re-elected to the parliament, there should be serious arguments in order to change its ministers.

As reported, New Unity achieved the best result in last Saturday's parliamentary elections by winning 26 mandates in the 14th Saeima. The Union of Greens and Farmers follows with 16, United List with 15, National Alliance with 13, For Stability with 11, Progressives with 10 and Latvia First with nine mandates.