Latvia’s face on Facebook is in the process of getting a facelift. And fans of Latvia still have a chance to vote on the new look, according to the Latvian Institute.

Up till now, the “official” page for Latvia has been facebook.com/LatvianInstitute. However, given that its stated mission is “promoting knowledge about Latvia,” the page is a bit dull and looks like so many other Facebook sites.

So the institute, which is essentially the public relations and brand marketing arm of the Latvian government, together with the State Chancellery organized a competion that drew interest from a number of designers. After a day of discussion about what the new Facebook page should contain, the designers submitted their concepts. Now five entries are the topic of a poll that so far has drawn more than 1,200 votes.

The five designs were submitted by Djigital; the #LVFacebook team of Aleksandrs Borovenskis, Arjan Tupan and Ruben Martinez; the advertising firm Leo Burnett Riga; Digibrand; and the team of Anastasia Zenčika, Jeļena Gaikeviča and Mihails Žuravļovs. Overviews and videos of their concepts are available on the Cabinet of Ministers’ website. Details on what Latvia is looking for in its Facebook page are available in a manifest (PDF, in Latvian).

One challenge for the Latvian Institute is getting Facebook to allow Latvia to use Latvia as its Facebook name. Confused? Right now, no page exists at the address facebook.com/latvia. The Latvian Institute is pushing Facebook to allow this, even offering to help set up guidelines for official “country pages” so that others might draw on Latvia’s experience, says Rihards Kalniņš, public relations specialist for the institute. He wrote about the issue in a recent post on the Latvian Institute’s blog.

(Out of curiosity, we checked a few country names on Facebook. France seems to have an inactive “official” page. Germany, Iceland, Estonia and Lithuania, like so many others, have nothing. Russia’s page belongs to some guy named Ahmed Ali, while Turkey’s is run by a woman named Pat in British Columbia who is passionate about the country. Yeah, guidelines might be a good idea.)

In the meantime, fans of Latvia have until Oct. 4 to vote for their favorite design. The poll is found on the Latvian Institute’s Facebook page, facebook.com/LatvianInstitute.

The last polling station to report its results in the Sept. 17 parliamentary election will add 125 votes to the totals when officials in Seattle, Wash., complete required paperwork.

Inta Morusa-Vīste (Wiest), chairperson of the local election commission, told Latvians Online that the polling station counted ballots after voting ended at 8 p.m. local time. However, she said Central Election Commission officials in Rīga declined to accept the results until all required forms were submitted, too.

The polling station in the western U.S. city is the only one of 1,027 districts in Latvia and abroad from which the Central Election Commission had not yet published official results by the afternoon of Sept. 18.

Of the 125 voters in Seattle, 43 submitted ballots for Unity (Vienotība), Morusa-Vīste said. The Zatlers’ Reform Party (Zatlera Reformu partija) received 36 votes, as did the National Association (Nacionālā apvienība “Visu Latvijai!”-“Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK”).

Harmony Centre (Saskaņas Centrs), the party that won the election in Latvia, earned only 4 votes in Seattle. The Union of Greens and Farmers (Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība) got 3 votes. One vote each went to the Šlesers’ Reform Party (Šlesera Reformu partija LPP/LC), the Last Party (Pēdējā partija) and Freedom (Brīvība. Brīvs no bailēm, naida un dusmām).

Official provisional results of the Saeima election are available from the Central Election Commission’s website, www.velesanas2011.cvk.lv.

Pirms divām nedēļām vēlētāji Austrālijā sapulcējās Melburnas latviešu namā, lai noklausītos politologa Ulda Ozoliņa referātu par krīzi Latvijā.

Nedēļu pirms 11. Saeimas vēlēšanām 17. septembrī, Ozoliņš atkal uzstājās, šoreiz apskatot politiskās partijas un balsošanas procesu.

Ozoliņš aizrādīja, ka neskatoties uz jaunākiem partiju reitingiem, paliek daudz vēlētāju, kas vēl nav izšķīrušies par ko balsot, un tieši viņi varētu ietekmēt rezultātus.

Viņš arī apskatīja vēlētaju aktivitāti ārzemēs.

Informatīvo pārrunu rīkoja Melburnas latviešu organizāciju apvienība.

Piedāvājam Ozoliņa referāta audio ierakstu: