Formation of Political Parties and Electoral Coalitions: The Case of Latvia

  • Abstract:
    The only post-Soviet states within the European Union and NATO are Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. In contrast to the Western Europe, the above mentioned northern European republics, after regaining independence, entail a sometimes different legacy of political culture; in this particular case, focusing on the phenomenon of Latvian political parties on the basis of ideological differences on the national question. In general it can be said that Latvia as a post-Soviet state theoretically accepts the principles of Western democracy, but is struggling with moral consequences of the Soviet political culture. The case of Latvia in this paper is viewed from two points of view. First of all there is the national question, which already 23 years after regaining independence is the key trump card of elections. The Second issue that appears is the amount of pre-electoral coalitions and lack of ideology within them and raises the hypothesis: unity of ideology is not the reason for parties to merge and create party coalitions. Political party distribution is a key issue of contemporary Latvian political life. The left-right distinction is different from the accepted in Western countries and always asks for more explanation. Nowadays it has caused two, created on a national basis, party coalition blocks that do not include theoretically adopted ideological division. It is so deep-rooted that the party program is left in the background, and the emphasis is primarily nationality. As a result, the left-oriented party is associated with the impact of national minorities and right wing is attributed to nationalists or otherwise not Russians. Political parties are one of the main attractions of democracy that can determine national goals both, externally and internally. The struggle of political parties for their supporters on the national principle, cannot provide the stability neither in Parliament nor in the public desire.