Elections / Saeima Elections
Saeima elections
The elections for Parliament (Saeima) in Latvia are held every four years on the first Saturday in October. The Latvia Saeima election is a proportional representation election system by secret ballot for the 100 seats in the Saeima. The next Saeima elections (10th Saeima) will be held in October 2, 2010.
All citizens of Latvia who have reached the age of 18 by election day have the right to vote unless any of the restrictions apply (see Saeima Election Law, Article 2).
The Saeima elections are held in five constituencies: Riga, Vidzeme, Latgale, Zemgale and Kurzeme. In contrast to local government elections, Saeima elections are also held in those foreign countries where a substantial number of Latvia citizens reside. Thus, the Riga constituency also includes the electorate residing outside of Latvia.
The Saeima elections are held on one day and the polling stations are open for voters from 7.00 to 20.00, local time. A voter has the right to vote in any polling station in Latvia or abroad irrespective of his/her place of residence or registered address.
Saeima elections do not allow voting in advance of the election day, but voters who reside abroad are able to vote by mail.
Any legally registered political party or association of political parties may submit a list of candidates for Saeima. Any citizen of Latvia who has reached the age of 21 by election day may be nominated as a candidate, unless any of the restrictions apply (see Saeima Election Law, Article 5).
Four months before election day the Central Election Commission determines the number of Saeima seats for each of the five constituencies, based on the Population Register statistics.
Only those list of candidates which have received at least 5% of the total number of votes cast in all five election constituencies will be elected to the Saeima.
15/03/2010
Last modified July 29, 2010