Latvia’s president asks the opposition leader to form a new government. political news
Published on 16 May
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics has backed opposition lawmaker Andris Kulbergs to replace Ivica Silena for the top post after the prime minister resigned over an incident involving a Ukrainian drone.
Kulbergs, leader of the Joint List of smaller parties that form the largest opposition bloc in parliament, will take office if lawmakers approve him and his cabinet.
“Taking into account recent events, I think the new prime minister should come from the opposition parties,” President Rinkevics said at a press conference on Saturday.
Last weekend, former Prime Minister Silesia fired his defence minister, Andris Spruds, after two Ukrainian drones strayed from Russia into Latvia and exploded at an oil storage facility.
The incident is the latest in a series of such incidents in NATO members Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.
The drone incidents “clearly demonstrate that the political leadership of the defence sector has failed to live up to its promise of safer skies over our country,” Silena said, calling for Spruds’ forced resignation.
In the following days, Silena’s leftist coalition partner, the Progressive Party, pulled support from the government, leaving it without a majority. “I’m resigning, but I’m not giving up,” Silena said in a televised statement announcing her resignation on Thursday.
Silena was the prime minister from 2023.
President Rinkevics reached an agreement on Kulbergs after meeting with representatives of all parties in parliament, Reuters news agency reports.
The president told reporters that he had invited Kulberg to form a government. If Kulberg were to succeed, parliament would still need to approve the cabinet lineup.
Kulbergs said he hoped to form an “expanded coalition” to govern Latvia until they hold parliamentary elections on 3 October.
“The President has given me 10 days’ time,” he told reporters on Saturday.
Earlier, on May 7, two Ukrainian drones flew over Russia, one of which crashed into a petrol depot in the east of Latvia, causing a fire that was quickly extinguished.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, after speaking with Rinkevičius at a summit in Romania on Wednesday, said he would send Ukrainian experts to Latvia to help boost its air defence.
