Latvia’s new ambassador to Canada is scheduled to receive his letter of accreditation July 21 during a ceremony with President Andris Bērziņš in Rīga, according to the president’s press office.

Juris Audariņš, the new ambassador, since 2004 has been the special assignments ambassador to the Latvian diaspora. He will replace Marģers Krams, who has been Latvia’s ambassador to Canada since 2007.

Audariņš began working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1992. Before being put in charge of diaspora affairs, from 2001-2004 he was Latvia’s consul general in St. Petersburg, Russia. He also has been a counselor in Latvia’s embassy in Italy and has served as assistant state secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Krams will become the special assignments minister for the European Union directorate, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Latvian Embassy is located in Ottawa.

(Updated 21 JUL 2011)

Polling stations in Latvia and abroad began work July 13 in preparation for a referendum that could result in dismissal of the 10th Saeima.

The stations—including 78 abroad—will have information about the balloting process available for anyone interested, according to the Central Election Commission in Rīga.

The polling stations are to be open four hours per day from July 13-July 22. Hours are to be set by local election officials. The referendum is scheduled from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. local time on July 23.

Also, persons who for medical or other reasons will not be able to get to a polling station may apply to vote in their home or hospital. Further information about the application process and deadline is available from the election commission’s website at www.cvk.lv.

The referendum was initiated after then-President Valdis Zatlers used his constitutional power to call for the parliament’s dismissal. If the referendum succeeds, the 100 members of the Saeima will lose their posts and new elections will be held in September. If the referendum fails, the president is supposed to step down, but Zatlers’ term in office expired July 7.

A list of polling stations is available from the commission’s website in PDF or Microsoft Word format. In order to vote, a person must have a valid Latvian passport and be at least 18 years old.

Police in the town of Tuam in west central Ireland are searching for a 30-year-old Latvian national who was last seen a week ago.

Juris Buls was last seen at 10:45 p.m. July 7 at his home in Glenamaddy, County Galway, according to the Garda Press Office. He was due at work at midnight at Titan Plastics in Glenamaddy, but failed to show up.

No one has heard from Buls since then, police said.

Buls is described as 5 feet, 7 inches tall (about 170 cm), with short blond hair and blue eyes. He is of light build, police said. He may have been wearing a blue, heavy-line work jacket with the inscription “Titan” on the front left lapel and the word “Kingspan” on the back.

Buls’ car is described as a black Audi A4 with a registration number of 04D76216.

Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to contact the Garda station in Tuam at +353 093 70840.