Elizabete PSed:

<PS - Andrej K: are you around?  Eons ago (was it in 2002?) you posted a great “Diena” article by Jānis Peniķis about there being no reason for democracy to have failed in 1934.  Though you were good enough to send me the article privately, I can’t find it on my hard drive.  Do you still have it?>

Yes, I’m around, following the multi-threaded (and quite fascinating) discussion of identity, nationhood, etc. as time permits.  Haven’t weighed in on any of this as my “identity” is still a work in progress.  Something Irena wrote a little while ago resonated the most with me (as her thoughts often do)—the idea that many in trimda will probably always remain DPs psychologically.  Maybe that’s what I really am. 

Anyway, I will search my files to see if I have the Penikis article saved on some disk (It’s not on my computer).  I’m pretty sure I saved a paper copy in any case; it’s just a matter of finding it in my voluminous and messy LV-related materials.

ak

Elizabete et al.,

“The country has been entirely dysfunctional since Jūrmalgeits came to light in the late winter of 2006,......... “ ?

The country is humming along just great Kalvitis Mini-Ulman like attempt for power was dealt with within the parliamentary Saema and he is out.  Which party did you vote for ?

Visu labu,

Sveiki!

Andrej K: I found an e-copy of Peniķis’ “Latvijas īsais gadsimts” after all.  For once, I filed it logically, hence couldn’t find it initially. : ) In any case, thanks for the offer, but there’s no need to search for it.

Bruno:  A while back Roberts, too, asked me for whom I voted in the last election.  Because I couldn’t decide on the ‘least evil’ party, I chose to vote with an empty envelope this time.  Under LV’s election law, an empty envelope in effect helps raise the barrier, so that it makes it more difficult for smaller parties to get elected.  Other than that, it leaves the composition of Saeima in the hands of the rest of the voters.  Maybe especially because I’d been in LV for just under 2 months prior to the election and could watch the nightly political ads on TV (ads from two parties blatantly violating the law that these parties unanimously had adopted), and on a daily basis could see that not a single major party provided a formal or even informal program that they hadn’t used in the previous election, I simply didn’t feel that I had any other choice.

Visu labu,

Elizabete

Elizabeta et al.,

“Because I couldn’t decide on the ‘least evil’ party, I chose to vote with an empty envelope this time.  Under LV’s election law, an empty envelope in effect helps raise the barrier, so that it makes it more difficult for smaller parties to get elected.  Other than that, it leaves the composition of Saeima in the hands of the rest “.

So, because you did not like any of the major parties, you decided to make it harder for smaller parties to get elected.  Somewhat confusing participation in the electoral system.

Visu labu,

Sveiki!

Bruno, having listened to the televised debates, which included candidates from all parties, alas, it was a relatively easy decision to make it harder for the smaller parties.  As is, because of the changes made to the electoral law in 1995, the 9th Saeima had 7 winning lists and *15* parties that won seats.  Little wonder that LV is called the ‘Italy of northern Europe.’ By the way, allowing electoral alliances - i.e., multiple parties may submit a single list of candidates - is the reason that so many new parties have been formed in the last year.  There’s plenty of time prior to the next Saeima election in 2010 for them to form electoral alliances to increase their chance of getting elected. 

Visu labu,

Elizabete

Elizabete et al.,

The 5% vote barrier enacted in 1995 is sufficient to make the present system work.  I can not believe that none of the party platforms of those that you heard was to your liking.  You seem to have disliked all of the party speakers.  The remedy for this is, if you looked at the ballots, to add a plus(+) or a minus(-) next to the candidate names, or even cross out the names of candidates that are not to your liking, and not send in an empty envelope.

Visu labu,

Sveiks, Bruno!

“The 5% vote barrier enacted in 1995 is sufficient to make the present system work. “

Please see my previous post.  It is in fact a 5% barrier for *lists,* but effectively a 1% barrier for parties.  I am among those who find it troubling that in the 6. Saeima, 36.4% of the Saeima’s representatives either changed parties or became a deputy-without-a-party; in the 7. Saeima, 12.3% left the party that had originally elected him/her to Saeima, but in the 8. Saeima, 23.5% did so.  Accountability to the voter becomes just nigh impossible, under the current set of ground rules.

“ I can not believe that none of the party platforms of those that you heard was to your liking. “

Immediately after the 2002 election of the 8. Saeima, like-minded friends of mine in LV & I reviewed the *written* party platforms (i.e., the so-called long programs) of the elected parties.  Other than one party’s detailed program about joining the EU and NATO (cribbed from the agenda that was handed to LV by these respective organizations), we couldn’t find any concrete promises made to the electorate, which could be used to determine whether their promises to voters were being fulfilled over the course of their tenure.  Instead of substance, there were slogans, which by definition can’t be measured.

Prior to the 9. Saeima election, I examined the *written* long programs and discovered that none of the major parties had even bothered to change the slogans that they’d use in the 8. Saeima election, much less provided substance.  In short, there was nothing to be found, other than a recycling and/or updating of slogans.

“ You seem to have disliked all of the party speakers.  “

Sorry for the confusion.  Overall, the minor parties didn’t provide written ‘long programs’/platforms, so I was hoping to hear someone from these parties at least be able to hold his/her own in the debates.  For me it was either excruciatingly boring to listen to the ‘debates’ or a comically, sad waste of time to hear the minor party’s representatives.  I felt quite justified in ‘voting with an empty envelope’ in order to help make it more difficult for them to get into Saeima.

“ The remedy for this is, if you looked at the ballots, to add a plus(+) or a minus(-) next to the candidate names, or even cross out the names of candidates that are not to your liking, and not send in an empty envelope. “

I assume that you were you back in the States when you voted, in which case you mailed your envelope containing your choices.  All of the mail-in diaspora votes under the current election law is assigned to the Rīga electoral district.  Because the electoral law geographically discriminates in favor of the larger districts - Rīga and Vidzeme - there is indeed a point to using plusses and minuses for you.  In the 2006 election 69% of those candidates from winning parties which received the highest number of votes from Rīga’s electorate were in fact elected from Rīga.  Over the course of the past 5 parliamentary elections since 1993, 50% of the candidates favored by Rīgans were indeed elected from Rīga.  The other 50% were the so-called ‘dark horses.’

It’s a very different story out in the smaller provinces.  As I mentioned in my last post, I was in LV during the last election, and voted as I have since 1998 in my country property’s novads (Ozolnieki), which is in the Zemgale electoral district.  In the 9. Saeima election, only 13% of those candidates (2 out of 15) from winning parties that received the highest number of votes from Zemgale’s electorate were in fact elected from Zemgale.  Overall, since 1993 only 9% of the candidates favored by Zemgale’s voters were elected from Zemgale.  The three smaller electoral districts - Zemgale, Kurzeme and Latgale - are continually subject to ‘bait and switch’ and we’re primarily used as a conduit for the ‘dark horses’ that get into Saeima.  This is the result of candidates being allowed to run in more than one district.

Bruno, I vaguely seem to remember that you tend to be in LV by Līgo svētki, so it’s quitely likely that you didn’t see last July’s posts.  But, if you have a genuine interest in the topic, then please see http://latviansonline.com/index.php/forum/viewthread/32769/P15/, especially posts 18 and 19, and also post 28 about a related issue that also is key in electoral law.  If you have a deeper interest in the topic, feel free to contact me privately.  However, I don’t want to continue to ‘waste bandwidth’ as a forum member once characterized discussions about electoral law on LOL.  I tend to agree - a different venue would be preferable, and I am not planning on continuing with this topic at present, since I’m pressed for time.

Visu labu,

Elizabete