A national referendum on dissolution of the Latvian parliament is set July 23, the Central Election Commission in Rīga has announced.

The date was approved May 30 after President Valdis Zatlers on May 28 used his constitutional power to initiate dismissal of the Saeima—the first time any Latvian head of state has done so.

In a nationally broadcast speech, the president reacted to the May 26 failure by the Saeima to back the prosecutor general’s request to allow a search of residences controlled by oligarch and MP Ainārs Šlesers. Zatlers said the decision revealed a split between the legislative and judicial branches of Latvia’s government.

Šlesers, according to Latvian media reports, is among oligarchs and public officials implicated in a serious criminal investigation recently undertaken by the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (Korupcijas novēršanas un apkarošanas birojs).

Šlesers, speaking on Latvian Independent Television, said Zatlers is engaging in a power grab similar to what President Kārlis Ulmanis did in 1934. The only difference, Šlesers said, is that Zatlers is pursuing it via democratic measures, unlike the coup-d’état of Ulmanis.

The election commission chose the latest possible date for the referendum, according to a press release. This will allow the commission to organize mail balloting for Latvian citizens abroad, as well as allow the commission to better prepare for the referendum.

Under the Latvian constitution, if voters approve the referendum, then the Saeima will be considered dissolved and new parliamentary elections will be scheduled. However, if the referendum fails, then the president must step down.

Zatlers’s four-year term in office expires in July. The parliament is moving ahead with plans to elect the next president on June 2. Zatlers has declared himself a candidate for a second term, but admitted in his May 28 speech that he may have ruined his chances by calling for the parliament to be dissolved. The only other declared candidate for president is MP Andris Bērziņš, a member of the Union of Greens and Farmers (Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība) and former president of Unibanka.

On July 23, polls will be open in Latvia and abroad from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. local time, according to the election commission. Voters will need to have a Latvian passport, in which notation will be made that the citizen has voted in the referendum.

Locations of polls abroad are not yet known. The American Latvian Association (Amerikas latviešu apvienība) has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to guarantee that the greatest possible number of polling stations operate in the United States. During the Saeima election in October, 15 polling stations were open in the U.S. Around the world, a total of 63 polling were open on Oct. 2.

Just days before Latvia’s parliament is due to vote on who the country’s next head of state should be, President Valdis Zatlers has called for the dismissal of the Saeima.

Zatlers described the decision as radical and one that likely will ruin his chances for re-election.

In a nationally broadcast, 10-minute address the evening of May 28, Zatlers said from Rīga that a May 26 decision by the Saeima not to approve a search of businessman and MP Ainārs Šlesers’s homes “is like an alarm that points to a split between the legislative and judicial branches of government.”

Under the constitution, when the president calls for dismissal of the Saeima, a national referendum must be held on the issue. If voters support the president, parliament is dismissed and new elections are scheduled. If the voters fail to approve the referendum, the president must step down.

The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (Korupcijas novēršanas un apkarošanas birojs, or KNAB) announced May 20 that it had begun criminal proceedings against a number of public officials alleging they have engaged in “laundering of criminally acquired assets, providing false statements in the declaration of public official, misuse of the position, receiving and giving of bribes, illegal participation in property transactions and violation of restrictions imposed on public officials,” according to a press release.

Although the KNAB did not name who the proceedings target, media reports revealed them to be Ventspils Mayor Aivars Lembergs; businessman, Saeima member and People’s Party (Tautas partija) Chairman Andris Šķele; and businessman, Saeima member and For a Good Latvia! (Par labu Latviju!) head Šlesers.

The KNAB announcement pointed to a currently elected member of the Saeima who is involved in the transport sector, especially the Freeport of Rīga Authority. Šlesers was formerly minister of transport and before election to the Saeima was chairman of the Freeport’s board of directors.

In an extraordinary meeting May 26, the Saeima rejected a request by the KNAB and the prosecutor general to search Šlesers’s homes. The measure was defeated with 7 votes against, 35 votes for and with 37 abstentions. Sixteen MPs were not present for the vote.

Zatlers, fresh from a brief trip to Poland where he and other Eastern and Central European leaders visited with U.S. President Barack Obama, met earlier on May 28 with both Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis and Saeima Speaker Solvita Āboltiņa, according to Latvian media reports.

Zatlers’s four-year term in office expires in July. He has declared his candidacy for a second term, but his re-election by the 100-member has been far from assured. MP Andris Bērziņš, a member of the Union of Greens and Farmers (Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība) and former head of Unibanka, announced his candidacy for the position on May 23.

The 10th Saeima was elected in October.

Diaspora leaders support president

Juris Mežinskis, chairman of the American Latvian Association (Amerikas latviešu apvienība, or ALA), told Latvians Online in an email that he personally supports the president’s initiative to dismiss the Saeima. The ALA during its annual congress earlier this month accepted a resolution backing the re-election of Zatlers.

The ALA has already contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and will also contact the Central Election Commission in Rīga to ask that polling stations for the referendum be set up in as many locations in the United States as possible, Mežinskis said. During the October parliamentary elections, 15 polling stations operated in the U.S.

The World Federation of Free Latvians (Pasaules brīvo latviešu biedrība, or PBLA) also supports the re-election of Zatlers. The organization’s chairman, Mārtiņs Sausiņš, said in an email that he personally backs the president’s call to dismiss the Saeima. Sausiņš said he congratulates Zatlers for being a courageous statesman.

Alberts Upeslācis, chair of the council of the Latvian National Association in Canada (Latviešu nacionālā apvienība Kanādā), also applauded Zatlers. The president’s decision to stand up against Latvia’s oligarchs is comparable to the lone Chinese man who stood against tanks in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, Upeslācis said in an email, referring to a famous image from the 1989 pro-democracy protest.

“It could turn out that it is Zatlers who begins the change in Latvia,” Upeslācis said, “because no serious politician has clearly and directly spoken out against the increasing influence of the oligarchs.” The people will vote for dissolution of the parliament, he added, but it is not possible to predict the outcome.

(Updated 29 May 2011)