13 parties field 1,200 candidates for Oct. 2 parliamentary election

Andris Straumanis | 

A total of 13 political parties or coalitions in Latvia will field more than 1,200 candidates in the Oct. 2 parliamentary election, the Central Election Commission in Rīga announced Aug. 3 after the filing period closed.

While the number of candidate lists is the lowest since the nation renewed its independence, the number of candidates is the highest, according to data compiled by the commission. With 100 seats in the Saeima, that means there are 12 candidates vying for each spot.

Of the 13 lists of candidates, just six are from singular political parties. The rest are from coalitions of parties.

The greatest number of candidates, 375, are running in the Rīga election district. Vidzeme has 298 candidates; Latgale, 207; Zemgale, 191; and Kurzeme, 168.

Parties fielding candidates include:

  • The center-left Saskaņas Centrs, which was the first to file.
  • The leftist Par cilvēka tiesībām vienotā Latvijā.
  • The pro-business and reformist Par Prezidentālu Republiku, a new party.
  • The conservative coalition Par Labu Latviju!, whose five members include Tautas partija, Latvijas Pirmā partija, Ogres novadam, Vienota Rēzekne and Latgales tauta.
  • The centrist coalition Vienotība, which is composed of Jaunais laiks, Pilsoniskā savienība and Sabiedrība citai politikai.
  • Ražots Latvijā, another new pro-business political coalition. It consists of Ražotāja Latvija, Demokrāti.LV and Latvijas kustība Solidaritāte.
  • The conservative Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība.
  • The socialdemocratic coalition Atbildība, which includes Latvijas Sociāldemokrātiskā strādnieku partija,  Mūsu zeme, Sociālā taisnīguma partija and Latvijas Atmoda.
  • The new centrist party Tautas kontrole.
  • The nationalist coalition Visu Latvijai!, which includes the party by the same name and Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK.
  • The Christian democratic Kristīgi Demokrātiskā Savienība.
  • The nationalist Daugava-Latvijai, which until mid-July was known as Tēvzemes nacionālo spēku savienība.
  • Pēdējā partija, a group that does not expect to see its candidates elected, but wants to generate discussion about political issues.

The commission will meet Aug. 4 to certify the candidate lists of Kristīgi Demokrātiskā Savienība, Daugava-Latvijai and Pēdējā partija. The other 10 lists have already been certified.

Six parties fielded 115 candidates, the maximum allowed. Pēdējā partija fielded just 38, the smallest number of candidates.

According to election commission statistics, of the total 1,239 candidates, 888 (71.7 percent) are men. Nearly 80 percent of candidates have a college education. The youngest candidate is 21 years old, but the oldest is 86.

Nearly 73 percent of the candidates are ethnic Latvians, while 8.7 percent are ethnic Russians. Other ethnicities represented are Armenian, Belarussian, Estonian, German, Jewish, Karelian, Lebanese, Lithuania, Liv, Moldovan, Polish, Roma, Ukrainian, Uzbek. A total of 14.3 percent of candidates did not report their ethnicity.

Seven candidates have dual citizenship: four American, one Australian, one Canadian and Venezuelan, and one Swedish.

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

Group publishes Latgale stories on CD

Andris Straumanis | 

A compact disc featuring 31 Latgallian stories told by various cultural activists and musicians has been published by the Latgolys Producentu Grupa.

The goal of the recording,  Latgalīšu puosokys i puorsokys, is to make the material more accessible, according to Edīte Husare of Latgolys Producentu Grupa. Copies of the CD will be distributed to libraries and schools in Latgale, as well as to several organizations.

The stories were gathered over several years by folklorist Iveta Dukaļska, who traveled around the eastern Latvian province of Latgale. Among the stories are “Par peļom i kači,” which is about a mouse’s plan to put a bell on a cat’s tail, and “Par vylkim i eņgeli,” which is about a hungry wolf and an angel.

The stories were recorded by Aigars Runčis, Artūrs Uškāns, Gunārs Igaunis, Guntra Kuzmina, Alvis Bernāns, Juris Vucāns, Ilmārs Dreļs and other musicians and cultural activists.

The CD will not immediately be available for sale to the public, Husare told Latvians Online, but eventually copies will be found at the Istaba gallery in Rīga and possibly through the Internet store madeinlatgola.lv.

Preparation of the recording was supported by the State Culture Capital Foundation (Valsts Kultūrkapitāla fonds).

For more on Latgolys Producentu Grupa, visit the group’s page on the draugiem.lv social network.

Latgalīšu puosokys i puorsokys

Latgalīšu puosokys i puorsokys includes 31 stories from around Latgale.

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

Absurdist film overloads on strangeness

Andrejs Makwitz | 

Scene from Medības

Guna Zariņa as Renāte and Rolands Zagorskis as the policeman Krasts are among the actors in the Andis Mizišs film Medības. (Publicity photo)

Emir Kusturica is a world-renowned Serb filmmaker who makes great surreal and absurdist films. Time of the Gypsies and Arizona Dream come to mind. Medības tries to traverse the same terrain, but unfortunately Andis Mizišs, the director of the film, is no Kusturica.

The elements are there, but somehow they never really come together into a cohesive story in which we care about either the characters or the outcome of their actions.

The film opens with a scene of two men making and bottling juice in a rundown former train station. A train pulls up. It’s the owner of the bottling operation stopping by to check on the progress. The train also serves as a home for unwed mothers and the bottling operation owner seems to be their matron. The men hadn’t been paid in a while and ask as to their wages. The owner gives them the runaround and instead presses them to finish the latest shipment. The train pulls away, one of the bottlers goes back in and out of spite adds some poison to a few of the bottles. The entire shipment is then delivered to a small country bar.

Elsewhere a trio of orienteering competitors gets lost in the woods; a hunting party, also on rails, sets out for their annual hunting party; a famous architect and his highly strung lover are working out some issues; and a local policeman is trying to keep his young partner awake at a railroad crossing.

Keeping track? All of these characters and stories of course will be intertwined and then stuff will happen or, as a friend of my commented, “and then it gets weird.”

Medības is not all bad. There are some good performances (Guna Zariņa’s Renāte the best among them) and the stories have potential, but it’s just that it never really comes together. It’s just a lot of exposition about really strange situations and the sometimes strange people who get trapped in them.

The title itself seems to be an allusion to the personal and emotional hunts we all engage in our daily lives. But there’s just too much of the strange here that is never really explained. It’s a strangeness overload and we are far too busy making up our own back stories for the characters to have any time to actually relate to them. Just starting with the train, is it really that easy and simple to operate your own train, maintain your own track? Doesn’t it cost money to operate a train and why put a home for unwed mothers on it and who would ever send or willingly find themselves on this one?

(Editor’s note: This review originally appeared on the author’s blog, Not Really a Blog, and is republished with permission.)

Details

Medības

Andis Mizišs, director

Ego Media,  2009

Notes: In Latvian. Drama, color, 80 minutes. Screenplay: Elvita Ruka and Kaspars Odiņš; camera: Agris Birzulis; art director: Jurģis Krāsons; composer: Kārlis Auzāns; editors: Igors Verenieks and Dāvis Sīmanis; principal cast: Guna Zariņa, Rolands Zagorskis, Andris Keišs, Jana Sekste, Indra Burkovska, Santa Didžus, Beata Grickeviča, Kaspars Znotiņš, Artuss Kaimiņš and Juris Lisners.