Latvian govt talks start after Russian party wins vote

Toronto Star

RIGA (Reuters) - Latvian politicians begin talks on forming a new government on Sunday, after a party backed by the large Russian minority won most votes in a snap election that broke the power of business "oligarchs".

In second place was a new party formed by the ex-president, who forced the vote in a corruption row less than a year after the last election. Along with the third-placed party of current Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, it aims to form the core of a new coalition.

Russian minority party Harmony Centre, winning an election for the first time in the ethnically-split Baltic nation, said it should not be left out of the new administration.

"I am convinced that Latvian politicians ... will be able to form a coalition where the interests of all voters are represented," Harmony Centre leader Nils Usakov, 35, said on LNT commercial television.

The president is responsible for nominating the prime minister. He has said he will only do that after Sept. 28, when he returns from a trip to the United States, giving the parties time to come to an agreement on a coalition.

Results from 909 of 1,027 polling districts showed Harmony Centre, which has portrayed itself as the sole centre-left option, on 29.5 percent of the vote.