With the victory of opposition parties in Latvia’s first European Parliament election, political observers are saying the coalition government of Prime Minister Indulis Emsis may face its most serious challenge in its three-month existence.

As predicted by two exit polls, the conservative Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK (For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK) received the greatest number of votes in the June 12 election. In all, TB/LNNK got 29.82 percent of the total 574,674 ballots cast, according to official results announced by the Central Elections Commission in Rīga.

That means TB/LNNK will get to fill four of the nine seats Latvia has in the European Parliament.

Coming in second, with 19.68 percent of the vote, was the conservative Jaunais laiks (New Era), earning it two seats.

The leftist Par cilvēka tiesībām vienotā Latvijā (For Human Rights in United Latvia) got 10.71 percent of the vote, the conservative Tautas partija (People’s Party) earned 6.65 percent and the liberal Latvijas ceļš (Latvia’s Way) got 6.52 percent. Each party gets one seat in the Europarliament.

The remaining 11 parties in the election failed to get more than five percent of the vote and thus get no seats in the parliament.

Both TB/LNNK and Jaunais laiks are in the opposition the Saeima, Latvia’s domestic parliament. Three parties make up the coalition government: Zaļo un zemnieku savienība (Greens and Farmers Union), Latvijas Pirmā partija (First Party of Latvia) and Tautas partija.

Some political observers, according to Latvian media reports, view the election results as symbolic and say that the Emsis government’s days may be numbered. But the Green and Farmers Union and others say the results should not be interpreted as a referendum on domestic politics.

Nonetheless, this is just the latest in several recent challenges to the government.

The conservative coalition Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK appears to have captured at least 30 percent of the vote in the June 12 European Parliament election in Latvia, according to exit poll results reported by Baltic News Service. Official results won’t be announced until June 13, according to the Central Elections Commission.

The BNS exit poll shows 30.46 percent of the vote going to TB/LNNK (For Fatherland and Freedom/Latvian National Independence Movement). Another 19.65 percent went to the conservative Jaunais laiks (New Era), the party led by former Prime Minister Einars Repše. Coming in third was the left-wing and heavily Russian party Par cilvēka tiesībam vienotā Latvijā (For Human Rights in United Latvia, or PCTVL).

BNS also reported that the liberal Latvijas ceļš got 6.33 percent, while the conservative Tautas partija (People’s Party) got 6.22 percent.

All other parties, according to the BNS survey, got less than 5 percent, which would put them out of the running for one of the nine seats Latvia will have in the parliament.

A separate exit poll by the news agency LETA and Stradiņš University of Rīga found similar results. TB/LNNK got support from 28.5 percent of voters polled, Jaunais laiks received 21.24 percent and PCTVL earned 10.13 percent. The poll also shows Latvijas ceļš with 6.84 percent and Tautas partija with 6.75 percent.

More than 575,000 people cast ballots, or 41.27 percent of the country’s 1.39 million eligible voters, according to preliminary data from the Central Elections Commission. More than 3,000 absentee ballots were sent to Latvian citizens living or staying abroad.

(UPDATED 13 JUN 2004)

Underdogs. Minnows. Outsiders. A 250-1 or, even worse, a 500-1 long shot. That’s how Latvia’s football (soccer) team is being described in world media as the Euro 2004 championship gets underway in Portugal. Latvia is in the tournament for the first time.

Perhaps Latvia shouldn’t even be in the championship. It’s not a country really known for football. Hockey, yes. But football? Sure, a few domestic players have made it to the big time, most notably Marians Pahars, a midfielder for the Southhampton Football Club in England. But Latvian football doesn’t have quite the same name recognition as Latvian hockey: Irbe, Ozoliņš, Žoltoks, Salt Lake City, Prague. Want to know more about Latvian hockey? Easy! Visit www.hockey.lv on the Web. Want to know more about Latvian football? Visit…umm…

However, Latvia did make it to the championship in two key November matches, defeating Turkey 1-0 in one game and then battling to a 2-2 tie in a second. Euro 2004 starts June 12 and runs through July 4.

Latvia is in Group D and will see its first round of games against the Czech Republic (at 17:00 hours local time June 15), Germany (at 17:00 hours local time June 19) and the Netherlands (at 19:45 hours local time June 23). An estimated 3,000 Latvian fans are expected in Portugal, according to media reports.

Group A includes Greece, Portugal, Spain and Russia. Group B has Croatia, England, France and Switzerland. Group C includes Bulgaria, Denmark, Italy and Sweden. France is seen by many sports writers as the favorite to win the tournament.

Games will be played in eight different locations around Portugal: Aveiro, Braga, Coimbra, Faro-Loulé, Guimaraes, Leiria, Lisbon and Porto.

Sports writers and others are having plenty of fun at Latvia’s expense. Latvia, according to Clive Tyldesley of London’s Daily Telegraph, “arrive at Euro 2004 with a 500-1 chance of following in Marie N’s soundtracks and graduating from the Continent’s football fame academy with honours.” The Baltic nation “will be among the first to go home,” says Jack Bell of The New York Times. The Web site Football365.com offers a tongue-in-cheek “Miss Euro 2004” poll asking readers to name the nation “represented by the most comely lady.” The site’s choice for Latvia is Pahars: “Not essentially a woman, but he’s Latvian and has a girl’s name.”

Yet there’s also an allure to the Latvian team. Writer Tom Humphries of The Irish Times described Latvia’s presence in the tournament as “a welcome touch of romance.” In Scotland, where soccer fans don’t have a hometown Euro 2004 team to root for, some have adopted Latvia as their cause.

A total of 23 players were selected by Coach Aleksandrs Starkovs to be on the national team competing in Euro 2004, according to the Latvian Football Federation (Latvijas Futbola federācija, or LFF). They include goalkeepers Aleksandrs Koliņko, Andrejs Pavlovs and Andrejs Piedels; forwards Mihails Miholaps, Marians Pahars, Andrejs Prohorenkovs, Vits Rimkus, Andrejs Štolcers and Māris Verpakovskis; midfielders Vitālijs Astafjevs, Imants Bleidelis, Juris Laizāns, Jurģis Pučinskis and Andrejs Rubins; and defenders Oļegs Blagonadeždins, Aleksandrs Isakovs, Igors Korobļovs, Valentīns Lobaņovs, Māris Smirnovs, Igors Stepanovs, Mihails Zemļinskis Artūrs Zakreševskis and Dzintars Zirnis.

Of those, perhaps the best known is Pahars, who joined Southhampton in 1999 with a GBP 800,000 contract, according to the team’s official Web site. He previously played for Skonto Rīga. Others point to forward Verpakovskis, who has played for Skonto Rīga but now is with Dynamo Kiev, and midfielder Astafjevs, who plays for Austria’s Admira Wacker, as key members of the Latvian squad.