And then there were 1,234. Latvia’s Central Election Commission has scratched from the Oct. 2 parliamentary election five candidates who have criminal backgrounds and who as a result are not allowed to run for office under the Saeima election law.

Oļegs Posadskovs and Sergejs Špaks of the leftist For Human Rights in a United Latvia (Par cilvēka tiesībām vienotā Latvijā, or PCTVL), Sergejs Simčaks of the pro-business Made in Latvia (Ražots Latvijā) and Andris Grīnis of the Christian Democratic Union (Kristīgi demokrātiskā savienība, or KDS) were dropped from the ballot because they have been sentenced for committing crimes, election commission spokeswoman Kristīne Bērziņa said in an Aug. 11 press release.

KDS candidate Zigfrīds Laicāns, meanwhile, has been dropped for committing a crime while mentally unstable. According to the Saeima election law, among those who may not be elected to the parliament are persons who “have committed a criminal offense in a state of mental incompetency or a state of limited mental competency or who, after committing a crime, have become mentally ill and are incapable of taking conscious action or controlling it and as a result have been subjected to compulsory medical treatment or their cases have been dismissed without applying such a compulsory measure.”

The removal of Posadskovs and Špaks leaves PCTVL with a total of 95 candidates. Ražots Latvijā is now at 85 candidates and the KDS is at 83.

The Central Election Commission took the action after receiving information about the candidates from the Ministry of the Interior. Their removal from the ballot leaves the number of candidates at 1,234. A total of 13 political parties or coalitions are fielding candidates for the 100-seat Saeima.

Meanwhile, seven other candidates are under investigation because evidence suggests they may have worked with the Soviet-era State Security Committee (Valsts drošības komiteja, or VDK). The Saeima election law prohibits anyone with such a record from being a member of parliament.

Under question are the candidacies of Ēriks Didrihsons of Saskaņas centrs, Aivars Saliņš of Par prezidentālu republiku, Ēriks Tīrums of Tautas kontrole, Arvīds Ulme of Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība, Roberts Gobziņš of Pēdējā partija, and Aivars Āķis and Rolands Zagorskis of Daugava-Latvijai.

Information about the candidates’ possible relations with the VDK was provided to the election commission by the Centre for the Documentation of the Consequences of Totalitarianism (Totalitārisma seku dokumentēšanas centrs).

Latvian bobsled athlete Jānis Ķipurs, whose Soviet team won Olympic gold in 1988, is the new driving coach for the American women’s squad, the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation (USBSF) has announced.

“Jānis is a great addition to our coaching staff,” Darrin Steele, USBSF chief executive officer, said in an Aug. 10 announcement. “We are lucky to have him on the team. Jānis provides the driving experience we were looking for to round out the strengths of Dave Owens on the women’s coaching staff.”

Ķipurs, 52, began sliding in 1980 for the Soviet Union until 1990, and continued his career as a pilot with Latvia until 1992 following the collapse of the U.S.S.R.  Ķipurs’ athletic résumé includes Olympic gold and bronze medals from the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, three World Championship and two European Championship medals.

“I have a lot of nice memories from my sliding career, including winning Olympic gold,” Ķipurs said in the announcement. “There have also been many excellent moments in my coaching career when my athletes received Olympic and World Championship medals.”

Ķipurs coached the Swiss team for 10 years, and the French, Canadian and U.S. teams for two years each. Athletes he coached have earned eight Olympic and 12 World Championship medals.

“I am looking forward to seeing the athletes I will be working with and building plans for the next and following seasons until the Olympics in 2014,” Ķipurs said.

His main responsibilities as the U.S. women’s bobsled driving coach include pilot feedback during training and competitions, analyzing drive lines on the track, and managing video review.

Ķipurs, who is originally from Cēsis, has 21-year-old twins, a son and daughter, as well as a 26-year-old son.  He is fluent in Latvian, English, German and Russian, and served two years Soviet armed forces sports battalion before attending technical school in Rīga until 1980.

The recession in Latvia is over, Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis told an Aug. 9 press conference in Rīga called to discuss the latest economic indicators.

The announcement comes less than two months ahead of the Oct. 2 parliamentary election, in which the prime minister’s centrist Vienotība alliance is vying for control of the Saeima against the center-left Harmony Centre.

“The recession is over and on the basis of certain indicators it can be expected that in the second part of the year Latvia’s economy will regain growth in terms of both quarterly and annual indicators,” Dombrovskis said during the press conference, according to his press secretary. “This means a more positive gross domestic product, tax income, employment and other rates.”

Economists say a recession is over when the gross domestic product increases for two consecutive quarters, the prime minister’s office noted.

Statistics cited by Dombrovskis and Economic Minister Artis Kampars included:

• The GDP grew 0.3 percent in the first three months of this year and 0.1 percent in the second quarter. Dombrovskis and Kampars noted that while the level of growth is small, it cannot be disregarded after Latvia’s heavy economic downturn.
• Industrial production in the second quarter increased 6 percent compared to the first quarter.
• Retail production was up 1.7 percent in the second quarter.
• Unemployment is down and price indices are up.

The prime minister’s office acknowledged that “a small economic downturn still remains,” but added that the numbers compare favorably to the 18 percent drop in the GDP last year.

A Bank of Latvia economics expert suggested that the GDP could turn positive during the third or fourth quarter of this year.

“Several factors are still at play, however, which make us expect an uneven development and remain cautious regarding GDP forecasts for the subsequent quarters,” Igors Kasjanovs said in a commentary posted Aug. 9 on the Bank of Latvia’s website. “The near future developments and risks most important for the Latvian economy are the imminent parliament elections, the adoption of the 2011 state budget and the related undertakings as well as a possibly weaker growth of the European economy at the end of the year and in 2011.”

However, Kasjanovs cautioned that “GDP growth in one or two quarters in itself is no guarantee that the growth will continue in the subsequent quarters.” He noted that both Estonia and Lithuania experienced recent bumps after seeing their economies begin to rebound.