Sandra Kalniete, a former foreign minister and now a member of the Latvian parliament, appears to be heading to the European Parliament as one of the country’s newest representatives, according to provisional voting results announced June 7 by the Central Election Commission in Rīga.

Latvian voters went to the polls June 6 to elect eight members of the Europarliament as well as to decide who will represent them on local government councils. All but one precinct out of 950 had reported results by 11 p.m. Latvian time June 7.

Kalniete’s relatively new party, Civil Union (Pilsoniskā savienība, or PS), has earned 24.32 percent of the ballots cast by 789,539 voters in the European Parliament vote, according to the election commission. That’s enough to give PS two seats in the European Parliament. No. 2 on the PS ticket was incumbent MEP Inese Vaidere.

The socialdemocratic Harmony Centre (Saskaņas centrs, or SC) also has earned two seats, thanks to the 19.53 percent of voters who cast ballots for the party favored by many among Latvia’s Russian speakers. Topping the ticket for SC was Alfreds Rubiks, a former Communist Party leader who spent six years in prison for crimes against the Latvian state. No. 2 on SC’s European Parliament ticket was Saeima member Boriss Cilevičš.

Four other parties have earned one seat each.

The pro-Moscow party For Human Rights in United Latvia (Par cilvēka tiesībām vienotā Latvijā) earned 9.62 percent of the vote, in all likelihood returning incumbent MEP Tatjana Ždanoka.

The conservative First Party of Latvia (Latvijas Pirmā partija / Latvijas ceļš) got 7.5 percent of the vote. No. 1 on the party’s ticket was former Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis.

The conservative For Fatherland and Freedom (Tēvzemei un brīvībai / LNNK) garnered 7.46 percent of ballots. No. 1 on its ticket was incumbent MEP Roberts Zīle.

And the conservative party New Era (Jaunais laiks) took 6.66 percent of the vote. No. 1 on New Era’s ticket for the European Parliament election was Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš, a U.S.-born dual citizen and member of the Saeima who was one of a handful of Latvian candidates with ties to the diaspora.

Final results will not be known for three weeks, according to the election commission. Internal party politics also may yet determine which candidates in fact land the European Parliament positions.

Latvian voters actually elected nine MEPs, although only eight will initially take office. The ninth representative will be one of 18 so-called “phantom” MEPs who may not take office for up to two years but will in the meantime receive full pay and benefits from the European Parliament. The current size of the parliament is limited to 736 representatives, but if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified the body will increase to 754 members. Under a May 6 decision by the European Parliament, the 18 extra MEPs will be allowed observer status until the treaty is ratified.

Based on the Europarliament balloting in Latvia, according to a Twitter post by Civil Union candidate Pēteris Vinķelis, his party gets the “phantom” post, too.

Latvia’s turnout in the European Parliament election, according to Central Election Commission, stood at 53.06 percent—the highest in the Baltics. Across the 27 countries in which Europarliament elections were held from June 4-6, turnout averaged 43.39 percent, according to European Union data. Lithuania recorded just 20.54 percent participation, while Estonia had a turnout of 43.2 percent.

The socialdemocratic Harmony Centre (Saskaņas centrs, or SC) appears to have fared even better in the Rīga City Council election than exit polls suggested during the June 6 election, in which Latvians across the country voted for their local government and European Parliament representatives.

With votes in all but two of Rīga’s 158 precincts counted as of about 10 p.m. Latvian time June 7, the Central Election Commission reported that SC has captured 34.38 percent of ballots. The new reformist party Civil Union (Pilsoniskā savienība) has earned 18.83 percent of the vote, while the conservative First Party of Latvia (Latvijas Pirmā partija / Latvijas Ceļš, or LPP/LC) has come in third with 15.13 percent and New Era (Jaunais laiks) is fourth with 11.05 percent. Harmony Centre is favored by many in Rīga’s Russian-speaking population.

Nils Ušakovs of SC may likely become the new mayor of Rīga, although his colleague Sergejs Dolgopolovs told the newspaper Diena that he still is a candidate, too. The new mayor will be elected by the new 60-member city council.

Ušakovs’ conservative rival Ainārs Šlesers of LPP/LC is not out of the picture, either, at least not as a power broker. Media reports suggest SC and LPP/LC, strange bedfellows though they might be, have enough seats on the new city council to form a two-party coalition, leaving Civil Union in the opposition. Šlesers, formerly Latvia’s controversial transportation minister, mounted a high-profile campaign in a bid to become mayor of Rīga.

Turnout across Latvia reached almost 53 percent of eligible voters. In all, 789,375 people cast ballots at 950 polling stations. Activity was highest in Rīga, where turnout reached 56.88 percent, but lowest in Kurzeme province, where 48.42 percent of eligible voters cast ballots, according to the Central Election Commission.

Across Zemgale province, a total of 114,285 people, or 49.29 percent of those eligible, cast ballots in their local government elections. In Jelgava, the Union of Greens and Farmers (Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība, or ZZS), captured 26.54 percent of the vote, followed by SC with 17.84 percent and New Era (Jaunais laiks) with 12.33 percent. LPP/LC did well in Jēkabpils, capturing 25.58 percent of the vote, compared to SC with 16.58 percent and the Green Party of Latvia (Latvijas Zaļā partija) with 13.84 percent.

In Latgale province, which has the largest Russian-speaking population outside of the capital city and where unemployment is particularly high, the leftist parties did well. Across the province, a total of 127,603 people voted, representing 53.19 percent of those eligible. In the local government election in Rēzekne, SC walked away with 43.51 percent of the vote, while 16 other parties divided up the rest, none of them topping 10 percent. In Daugavpils, the Latvian Socialdemocratic Workers Party (Latvijas Sociāldemokrātiskā strādnieku partija, or LSDSP) captured 29.84 percent of the vote, followed by LPP/LC with 27.68 percent and SC with 18.24 percent.

Turnout in Kurzeme province stood at 99,255 voters, or 48.42 percent of those eligible. In the local government election in Liepāja, the Liepāja Party (Liepājas partija) maintained its strong position, taking 35.14 percent of the vote. Following it were SC with 17.64 percent and LPP/LC with 8.39 percent.

In Ventspils, meanwhile, Aivars Lembergs’ party For Latvia and Ventspils (Latvijai un Ventspilij) has maintained its leading position in the local government, garnerning 59.96 percent of the vote, but has lost some of its power. SC, which four years ago came in third, moved up a notch with 18.89 percent of the vote. Three parties—New Era, Civil Union and the Society for a Different Politics (Sabiedrība citai politikai)—joined together on one ticket and earned 11.33 percent of the vote.

A total of 214,172 voters, or 53.18 percent of those eligible, turned out in Vidzeme province. In Jūrmala, the sometimes controversial local party Jūrmala – Our Home (Jūrmala – Mūsu Mājas) earned 18.27 percent of the vote, just barely topping SC with its 18.23 percent. New Era came in third with 9.26 percent.

For conservative parties, Valmiera proved a stronghold. The People’s Party (Tautas partija) found a bright spot in an otherwise discouraging election, harvesting 47.07 percent of the vote. Second was New Era with 17.37 percent and third was For Fatherland and Freedom (Tēvzemei un brīvībai / LNNK) with 10.04 percent.

Results of the European Parliament election will not be announced by the Central Election Commission until 11 p.m. Latvian time on June 7. Latvians voted to place representatives in eight seats in the parliament. Exit polls suggested Civil Union and Harmony Centre have both taken some of them.

(Updated with new vote totals for Rīga.)

Relatively high turnout June 6 across Latvia and especially in Rīga has apparently given the socialdemocratic Harmony Centre (Saskaņas centrs) a boost, while the still young reformist party Civil Union (Pilsoniskā savienība) has surprised observers with victory in the European Parliament election.

While the Central Election Commission as of 2 a.m. June 7 was just beginning to report provisional results of the local government elections, an exit poll suggested Nils Ušakovs of Harmony Centre will be the next mayor of Rīga, Latvian media reported.

Ušakovs, who turns 31 on June 8, is a former journalist. An exit poll by the news agency LETA and the media company Dienas mediji suggests his party will receive about 25 percent of the vote for the Rīga City Council, upstaging Ainārs Šlesers and his conservative First Party of Latvia (Latvijas Pirmā partija). However, the lack of a clear majority means the parties will have to form a coalition to run the city government.

In the European Parliament election, the reformist Civil Union has received about 24 percent of the vote, according to the exit poll, followed by almost 17 percent for Harmony Centre. That means former Foreign Minister Sandra Kalniete, one of the founders of Civil Union, most likely has been elected to one of the eight seats Latvia gets in the Europarliament. But it also means that Alfreds Rubiks, a former Communist Party leader who opposed Latvia’s freedom from the Soviet Union, has been elected, too. He led the Harmony Centre ticket.

By 2 a.m. June 7, the Central Election Commission reported that with 800 of 950 polling stations counted, a total of 770,332 people—a turnout of more than 51 percent—voted in the election.

The election commission will continue to report local government election results as they are counted, but will not reveal European Parliament results until 11 p.m. Latvian time June 7.