Is this purely a protest movement, or is there any likelihood that this will succeed?  Since it’s hardly imaginable that the Saeima would pass this, what chance is there for a large enough number of non-SC voters to support this in a referendum? 

Since Šlesers founded his own “Reformu Partija” as a gibe against Zatlers, maybe he’ll sardonically launch a petition amending the constitution to allow the purchase of citizens’ votes in a public auction. (Highly unlikely.)

To tell you the truth - I HOPE it does NOT pass…

It will succeed just as surely as spanish does in the U.S.

Sveiki!

My 2 cents’ worth .....  It’s not impossible that 154,379 signatures can be collected in the next month, which would indeed mandate that a referendum be held.  However, to change the 4th article of the constitution („The Latvian language is the official language in the Republic of Latvia. /...../”) requires that half of all vote-eligible citizens actively support the change in the subsequent referendum, which means that approximately 771,895 voters need to vote ‘yes.’  (By the way, Saeima cannot change this particular article, a referendum being mandatory.)  Using the recent election in September for numbers, if all those who voted for Saskaņas Centrs (259,930) turned out for this proposed referendum and supported the language change, that still leaves them more than a half a million votes short of being able to change Article 4.  It’s very difficult to imagine such a huge cross-over from ethnic Latvians.

Though anything is possible, I think it’s highly improbable that this measure would pass.  I wouldn’t at all be surprised if fewer than ½ of the vote-eligible citizens even turned out for the vote.

Visu labu,

E.

It’s fodder for (and I would not be surprised if incited by) Russia for its ritualistic Latvia-flogging whenever elections are coming up in Russia. Say, aren’t elections coming up in Russia? That’s right, Duma elections coming up in December, perfect timing. Let’s see how long before opposition to Russian having equal status is painted out to be Russophobic xenophobia.

Apologies, woke up on the cynical side of the bed this morning…

Apologies from me, too!  Pēter, I didn’t notice that you’d responded to this thread until a moment ago.  Just for the sake of being ethical, I make a point of not changing my posts, if someone else has subsequently posted a comment, but, I got distracted by my cat, alas, while making a minor change, and in the meantime, you published your post.  My change was just incorporating a PS comment from me into the body of the text for clarity’s sake.  And actually your post addresses issues other than the one I was making.

Visu labu,

E.

Nekas! No apologies needed. :-)

Pēter, if LOL had a ‘like button’ I’d use it for your last post. : )

Although I’m not a fan of software updates to LOL (since we lose so many posts in what constitutes LOL’s archives), *just in case* any of LOL’s owners run across this post, I, for one, would love to see an FB-type ‘like button’ the next time an update occurs.  I’m less fond of ‘dislike buttons’ but that’s just personal preference.

Visu labu,

E.

From our ‘friends’ and allies:
http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/politik/lettland-neonazis-regieren-in-riga-mit,10808018,11058620.html

crazy is as crazy does;
but a martial law scenario is being prepared in the Americas; just in case;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J97-M2GokNs&feature=feedbul

I share in the cynisism, but don’t know if I would take it to that level and blame everything on election time in Moscow. I think the real reason is far mundane if not any less worrisome. All politics are local as they say. You just had a major part of the voting population feel that they were excluded from the halls of power. Its not that unexpected that they would find some alternate way to bring their issues back to the forefront.
And no this does not mean that I support the initiative.

Andrejs

17% is not major part. stop blowing smoke.

I don’t see the arm of Moscow in this at all. Linderman was kicked out of Russia. He was friends with Limonov, who is hardly the friend of the Kremlin. If he wanted to be in politics for money, he would have been a long time ago. A friend of his described Linderman as an idealistic romantic. He isn’t interested in power. He likes to step on people’s toes. This is why he published the first erotic newspaper in the then-Soviet Union in the late 1980s called “Еще” or “More” in Russian. This is why he joined Limonov in his causes. This is why he is doing what he is doing now. And by the way, his Latvian—judging from his interviews to Latvian TV—ain’t that bad. After all, the man used to work at the official newspaper of the Latvian Popular Front Atmoda. He wrote many articles about Latvians’ right not to know Russian.

He is indeed a revolutionary, opposite of whatever establishment is in charge.

So I wouldn’t tie it with the Duma elections at all, especially since Limonov’s Other Russia party was denied registration in Russia and is effectively illegal.

Incidentally, the organizers had a huge debate when to submit the signatures, by the way and decided to wait until after the election to the Latvian parliament. They even fought among themselves on live TV (Mamykin’s show on TV 5). Cynicism aside, I don’t see the arm of Moscow in this (not to say that they won’t play it to their advantage).

As Andrejs said, all politics is local. The huge party has just been kept out of power on flimsy excuses and people want to have their voices heard. So it doesn’t matter if the initiative doesn’t get enough support. That’s not the point. I see this as a protest against Russians being kept out of power on principle. At least that would be the only reason why I’d consider signing up to it.

17 percent? I thought it was 27 percent? Or even larger if you consider the Russian-speaking non-Russians?

17% of eligible voters and 28% of those who decided to vote.
the majority was not with SC.

No one is talking about the majority really. The key was the attitude toward the legitimacy of that party, and of course those 17/28 percent of the voters. No party got the majority. But this attitude impacted only one party.

bunch of BS. if SC had polled 51%, they could complain.