Just 1,000 citizens abroad—less than half the number who voted at the beginning of the month—cast ballots in person or by mail in the Aug. 23 referendum on changes to Latvia’s pension law.

The referendum, which would have raised the minimum retirement benefit in Latvia to LVL 135 per month, failed by more than 105,000 votes. Across Latvia, polling stations reported relatively low turnout.

Provisional results reported by the Central Election Commission in Rīga also show low voter activity at the 47 polling stations that operated in 38 countries outside of Latvia. Two stations, in Kazakhstan and Portugal, reported no voters at all. The polling station in the Latvian Embassy in Beijing reported just one vote, despite the fact that a number of Latvian athletes and fans were still in China for the Olympics.

Of the 1,000 votes recorded abroad in the pension referendum, 92.3 percent were in favor of the amendments to the pension law. Overall, 96.15 percent of those who voted in Latvia and abroad supported the changes. But supporters needed at least 453,730 voters to cast ballots—half the number who participated in the last Saeima election—for the referendum to count.

Voters in Australia were the most active, casting a total of 158 valid ballots across the three polling stations in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, according to the Central Election Commission. But the most active single polling station abroad was the one in Dublin, the only one in Ireland, where Latvians cast 109 votes.

Besides Australia and Ireland, the most active countries outside Latvia were Sweden with a total of 98 votes cast, Russia with 69 (from four polling stations) and Canada with 55 (from two polling stations).

Latvians in the United States, who usually have been relatively active in Saeima elections and referendums, showed little interest in the pension issue and cast just 39 ballots at the polling stations in New York and Washington, D.C.

During the Aug. 2 referendum on constitutional amendments to give citizens the right to initiate a recall of the Saeima, a total of 2,315 ballots were cast abroad by mail or in person.

Supporters of higher pension payments for Latvian retirees have fallen far short in their attempt to pass a national referendum, according to provisional results of the Aug. 23 vote.

With 984 of 998 polling stations in Latvia and abroad reporting just after midnight Rīga time, supporters were more than 100,000 ballots away from the minimum required to make the referendum count, according to results reported to the Central Election Commission. Provisional results show 344,767 ballots cast, but for the referendum to count at least 453,730 eligible voters—half the number of voters in the last Saeima election—had to participate.

Polling stations in Brazil, Canada and the United States were still open and would remain so until 10 p.m. local time.

The referendum asked whether voters wanted to amend the state pension law to increase the monthly retirement benefit to at least three times the minimum welfare payment. That would make the minimum pension payment LVL 135. Opponents, including government officials, said Latvia cannot afford higher pension payments.

Even though the referendum has failed, supporters may be pleased that more than 96 percent of those who did vote were in favor of the higher payments. If enough voters had participated, the referendum would have passed on a simple majority.

We’ll take one of each, lūdzu. That could have been Latvia’s desire going into the Beijing Olympics, and thanks to men’s javelin thrower Ainārs Kovals it has now been fulfilled. Kovals scored a personal best Aug. 23 and earned a silver medal in the event.

Latvia now has earned gold, silver and bronze in the Summer Games, repeating a performance last registered in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. President Valdis Zatlers congratulated Kovals and said the javelin thrower had provided a great ending for Latvia’s athletes in these Summer Games, the president’s press office announced.

The 26-year-old Kovals hurled his javelin six times in the final, which took place in Beijing’s National Stadium, according to results posted on the official Web site of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. It was Kovals’ last throw, a distance of 86.64 meters, that turned out to be his personal best and that also earned him the silver medal.

The gold medal went to Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway, who set a new Olympic record on his fifth and final throw of 90.57 meters. The bronze medal went to Tero Pitkamaki of Finland, who could not quite catch Kovals with his best throw of 86.16 meters.

Another Latvian, Vadims Vasiļevskis, finished ninth in the 12-man field. His best was a distance of 81.32 meters.

For his silver medal, Kovals can expect a monetary award of LVL 50,000 from the Latvian government.

Latvian men’s BMX cyclist Māris Štrombergs won the gold medal Aug. 22 during the sport’s debut in the Olympics. Weightlifter Viktors Ščerbatihs claimed a bronze medal Aug. 19.

In the medals count, Latvia now has one up on Estonia, which has claimed one gold and one silver in the Beijing Games. Lithuania has five medals: two silver and three bronze.