So far just 87 citizens abroad—with the lion’s share from Norway—have requested absentee ballots for the Oct. 2 parliamentary election in Latvia, according to the Central Election Commission in Rīga.

The number represents the total requests received during May and June. A total of 24 Latvian embassies and consulates around the world are accepting requests to vote by mail. Citizens abroad have until Sept. 10 to submit their requests.

Of the 87 requests received so far, 63 were filed in the Latvian embassy in Oslo, Norway. Many of those absentee ballot requests were filed by Latvian soldiers who will be serving in Afghanistan on election day, according to the commission. Of the remaining requests, 10 were filed in the embassy in Washington, D.C.; 5 in the embassy in Berlin, Germany; and 4 in the embassy in Ottawa, Canada. Two requests each were filed in the embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, and the honorary consulate in Perth, Australia. One request was filed in the Latvian embassy in Dublin, Ireland.

Arnis Cimdars, chairperson of the election commission, said citizens abroad usually vote on election day at designated polling stations, or simply do not vote. He suggested the reluctance to request mail ballots is tied to the need for citizens to submit their passports along with the application form.

However, since the last parliamentary election in 2006, the absentee ballot process has been modified to allow citizens more time to file requests and to allow them to submit their requests through a person whom they trust.

In advance of the 2006 election, a total of 557 absentee ballot requests were received by embassies and consulates, many in the last two weeks of the application period.

Instructions for filing absentee ballot requests may be found on the Central Election Commission’s website, www.cvk.lv.

Latvian citizens abroad also will be able to vote at one of 64 polling stations that will operate in 37 countries.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is marking the 70th anniversary of the Welles Declaration, the document that declared the United States would not recognize the incorporation of the Baltic states into the Soviet Union.

In a July 20 announcement, Clinton said the anniversary of the declaration reaffirms the strong bond between the U.S. and Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.

The Welles Declaration was signed July 23, 1940, by the acting U.S. secretary of state, Sumner Welles. It followed the June 1940 military occupation of the three countries by the Soviet Union. On July 21, a new but undemocratically elected Latvian parliament voted to seek admission into the Soviet Union.

“During these past few days,” the Welles Declaration began, “the devious processes whereunder the political independence and territorial integrity of the three small Baltic republics—Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania—were to be deliberately annihilated by one of their more powerful neighbors, have been rapidly drawing to their conclusion.”

The Baltic states were accepted into the Soviet Union in early August.

The declaration paved the way for other nations not to recognize Soviet power in the Baltics. Estonian historian Eero Medijainen, in an essay in The Baltic Question During the Cold War, suggested that U.S. policy toward the Baltics was lukewarm through the 1920s and 1930s, but changed markedly with the Welles Declaration. Clinton’s announcement, posted on the State Department’s website, noted the importance of the document.

“This milestone document supported the Baltic States as independent republics at a critical moment to ensure their international recognition and facilitate the continued operation of their diplomatic missions during 50 years of occupation,” Clinton said. The Latvian and Lithuanian embassies in Washington, D.C., and the Estonian consulate in New York became the diplomatic missions in exile.

“The Welles Declaration is a testament to our longstanding support of the Baltic states and a tribute to each of our countries’ commitment to the ideals of freedom and democracy,” Clinton added. “As Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania celebrate nearly 20 years of fully restored independence, we honor our Baltic friends as valued NATO allies, strong partners in Europe and on the international stage, and living proof of all that democracy and good governance can achieve.”

The political party Harmony Centre (Saskaņas centrs), which some observers say will fare well in the upcoming Latvian parliamentary election, has become the first party to file its list of candidates, according to the Central Election Commission in Rīga.

Harmony Centre has put forward 115 candidates—the maximum allowed—in all five election districts (Rīga, Vidzeme, Latgale, Zemgale and Kurzeme), commission spokesperson Kristīne Bērziņa said in a press release. The list was submitted July 14, the day filing for election opened.

The Russian-oriented Harmony Centre bills itself as a center-left party. Its leader, Nils Ušakovs, is mayor of Rīga.

The party’s list of candidates, which still has to be reviewed and approved by the election commission, includes 96 men and 19 women. Fifteen of the candidates are incumbents.

In the Rīga district, Harmony Centre’s list is led by the party’s candidate for prime minister, Jānis Urbanovičs, who is chairman of the party’s fraction in the current Saeima. Second and third on the list are Sergejs Dolgopolovs, head of the Rīga city development committee, and Andrejs Klementjevs, a current member of the Saeima, according to a Harmony Centre press release.

Political parties have until Aug. 3 to submit their candidate lists to the Central Election Commission.

The election for the 10th Saeima is scheduled Oct. 2.