Commission certifies Saeima election results, releases new MP list

Latvians Online | 

Final results of the Sept. 17 special parliamentary election—called after voters in Latvia and abroad dissolved the 10th Saeima—have been released by the Central Election Commission in Rīga.

The commission on Oct. 4 certified election results from all 1,027 polling stations, 77 of which were located outside of Latvia.

The pro-Russian and center-left Harmony Centre (Saskaņas centrs) claimed victory, securing 31 seats in the parliament. The Zatlers Reform Party (Zatlera Reforma partija) took 22 seats; the centrist Unity (Vienotība) earned 20 spots; the right-wing National Alliance (Nacionālā apvienība “Visu Latvijai!” – “Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK”), 14; and the Union of Greens and Farmers (Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība), 13. The first four parties are now in negotations about who should be in a new coalition government.

According to the Central Election Commission, voter turnout overall stood at 59.49 percent. Among registered voters abroad, turnout was 28.07 percent.

The new parliament is scheduled to meet for the first time on Oct. 17.

In alphabetical order, the candidates elected from each party (with the election district from which they were elected shown in parentheses) are:

Harmony Centre

  1. Valērijs Agešins (Kurzeme)
  2. Jānis Ādamsons (Vidzeme)
  3. Boriss Cilevičs (Rīga)
  4. Irina Cvetkova (Rīga)
  5. Sergejs Dolgopolovs (Vidzeme)
  6. Andrejs Elksniņš (Kurzeme)
  7. Marjana Ivanova–Jevsejeva (Latgale)
  8. Aleksandrs Jakimovs (Latgale)
  9. Viktors Jakovļevs (Vidzeme)
  10. Nikolajs Kabanovs (Rīga)
  11. Andrejs Klementjevs (Rīga)
  12. Ivans Klementjevs (Vidzeme)
  13. Jeļena Lazareva (Latgale)
  14. Igors Meļņikovs (Rīga)
  15. Sergejs Mirskis (Rīga)
  16. Vladimirs Nikonovs (Latgale)
  17. Ņikita Ņikiforovs (Rīga)
  18. Vitālijs Orlovs (Zemgale)
  19. Igors Pimenovs (Rīga)
  20. Sergejs Potapkins (Rīga)
  21. Vladimirs Reskājs (Zemgale)
  22. Ivans Ribakovs (Latgale)
  23. Dmitrijs Rodionovs (Latgale)
  24. Artūrs Rubiks (Rīga)
  25. Raimonds Rubiks (Latgale)
  26. Aleksandrs Sakovskis (Vidzeme)
  27. Jānis Tutins (Latgale)
  28. Jānis Urbanovičs (Rīga)
  29. Ivars Zariņš (Zemgale)
  30. Mihails Zemļinskis (Rīga)
  31. Igors Zujevs (Rīga)

Zatlers Reform Party

  1. Guntars Bilsēns (Vidzeme)
  2. Inita Bišofa (Kurzeme)
  3. Inga Bite (Rīga)
  4. Edmunds Demiters (Kurzeme)
  5. Vjačeslavs Dombrovskis (Rīga)
  6. Kārlis Eņģelis (Rīga)
  7. Gunārs Igaunis (Latgale)
  8. Jānis Junkurs (Kurzeme)
  9. Zanda Kalniņa–Lukaševica (Vidzeme)
  10. Valdis Liepiņš (Rīga)
  11. Inese Lībiņa – Egnere (Kurzeme)
  12. Klāvs Olšteins (Zemgale)
  13. Jānis Ozoliņš (Zemgale)
  14. Romualds Ražuks ( Vidzeme)
  15. Gunārs Rusiņš (Vidzeme)
  16. Elīna Siliņa (Vidzeme)
  17. Edmunds Sprūdžs ( Rīga)
  18. Jānis Upenieks (Vidzeme)
  19. Viktors Valainis (Zemgale)
  20. Inga Vanaga (Zemgale)
  21. Juris Viļums ( Latgale)
  22. Valdis Zatlers (Vidzeme)

Unity

  1. Dzintars Ābiķis (Vidzeme)
  2. Solvita Āboltiņa (Kurzeme)
  3. Andris Buiķis (Rīga)
  4. Ilma Čepāne (Vidzeme)
  5. Valdis Dombrovskis (Vidzeme)
  6. Ina Druviete (Vidzeme)
  7. Andrejs Judins (Rīga)
  8. Ojārs Ēriks Kalniņš (Rīga)
  9. Janīna Kursīte – Pakule (Kurzeme)
  10. Ainars Latkovskis (Vidzeme)
  11. Jānis Lāčplēsis (Latgale)
  12. Atis Lejiņš (Zemgale)
  13. Aleksejs Loskutovs (Latgale)
  14. Artis Pabriks (Vidzeme)
  15. Jānis Reirs (Zemgale)
  16. Inguna Rībena (Rīga)
  17. Edvards Smiltēns (Vidzeme)
  18. Andris Vilks (Rīga)
  19. Ilze Viņķele (Rīga)
  20. Dzintars Zaķis (Zemgale)

National Alliance

  1. Gaidis Bērziņš (Kurzeme)
  2. Einārs Cilinskis (Rīga)
  3. Jānis Dombrava (Vidzeme)
  4. Raivis Dzintars (Vidzeme)
  5. Kārlis Krēsliņš (Vidzeme)
  6. Dzintars Kudums (Kurzeme)
  7. Inese Laizāne (Latgale)
  8. Ilmārs Latkovskis (Rīga)
  9. Ināra Mūrniece (Vidzeme)
  10. Romāns Naudiņš (Vidzeme)
  11. Imants Parādnieks (Zemgale)
  12. Vineta Poriņa (Zemgale)
  13. Dzintars Rasnačs (Rīga)
  14. Dāvis Stalts (Rīga)

Union of Greens and Farmers

  1. Uldis Augulis (Zemgale)
  2. Aija Barča (Kurzeme)
  3. Andris Bērziņš (Zemgale)
  4. Augusts Brigmanis ( Zemgale)
  5. Jānis Dūklavs (Vidzeme)
  6. Rihards Eigims (Latgale)
  7. Iveta Grigule (Vidzeme)
  8. Jānis Klaužs (Latgale)
  9. Ingmārs Līdaka (Vidzeme)
  10. Dana Reizniece–Ozola (Kurzeme)
  11. Kārlis Seržants (Rīga)
  12. Raimonds Vējonis (Rīga)
  13. Jānis Vucāns (Kurzeme)

Alt band Gaujarts releases 2nd album

Andris Straumanis | 

The alternative band Gaujarts, which has been gradually gaining recognition in Latvia since forming around 2007, has released its second album, Vibrācijas.

The 12-track album is a follow-up to the band’s 2008 release, Koncerts kultūras namā. It was recorded in Valmiera.

Gaujarts includes lead singer and guitarist Edgars Šubrovskis of the now-defunct group Hospitālu iela, accordeon player Mārcis Gurtiņš, drummer Ģirts Šolis, bass player Maija Ušča, and Edgars Mākens, who sings and plays keyboards, rhythm guitar and harmonica.

The band’s sound is distinctive, in large part because of Šubrovskis’ influence and the ever-present accordeon.

Tracks on Vibrācijas include:

  1. Vibrācijas
  2. Mīlulīt
  3. Valoda tiek atcelta pavisam
  4. Sāls
  5. Plecu
  6. Par vienu vīru
  7. Atzīšana
  8. Ko tu par mani
  9. Preobraženska sapnis
  10. Par tēviem
  11. Citas debesis

The album is available in digital format through the group’s Bandcamp page, gaujarts.bandcamp.com as well as through MICREC’s digital music store, doremi.lv.

Gaujarts’ first album is available free of charge by signing up for the band’s newsletter. Visit www.gaujarts.lv for more information.

The band also appears on the Strāvoklis album, which features various Latvian independent music groups performing songs with words by poet Jānis Rainis. The album was released in June.

Vibrācijas

Vibrācijas is the second album from Latvian alternative band Gaujarts.

Andris Straumanis is a special correspondent for and a co-founder of Latvians Online. From 2000–2012 he was editor of the website.

Latvia seeks facelift for Facebook

Andris Straumanis | 

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.

Facebook meeting

Zanda Šadre, press secretary for the Cabinet of Ministers, and Rihards Kalniņš, public relations specialist for the Latvian Institute, lead a recent discussion in Rīga about the new look of Latvia’s official Facebook page. (Photo courtesy of the State Chancellery)

Andris Straumanis is a special correspondent for and a co-founder of Latvians Online. From 2000–2012 he was editor of the website.