Several former PM candidates from past elections are running again for the 15th Saeima
At least ten candidates who were previously nominated as their parties' prime ministerial candidates or topped their lists in the last three elections are running in the upcoming 15th Saeima elections, LETA reports. The vote takes place Saturday.
According to the LETA news agency, at least ten candidates in the upcoming 15th Saeima elections previously served as their parties' prime ministerial candidates or led their party lists in one of the last three elections.
Uģis Mitrevics of the National Alliance, who was the party's PM candidate in 2022, is now running third on the list in Vidzeme. LPV leader Ainārs Šlesers, who sought the premiership in 2022 with "Latvia First" and led the "United for Latvia" list in Riga in 2014, is again running with his own party this year.
Arigo Toro, leader of the "Gobzems List" and formerly known as Aldis Gobzems, was a PM candidate for different parties in both the 2018 and 2022 elections. In 2018 then-President Raimonds Vējonis entrusted him with forming a new government, an attempt that ultimately failed.
Former Transport Minister Kaspars Briškens, the Progressives' PM candidate in 2022, is now running fourth in Riga for the same party. Sandis Ģirģens, who unsuccessfully ran as a PM candidate with the "Republic" party in 2022, is now running with the Greens and Farmers' Union, while his former party — now rebranded as "We Change the Rules" — competes without him.
Justice Minister Edvards Smiltēns, who was the Latvian Regions Alliance's PM candidate in 2018, now tops the United List in Vidzeme. Aleksejs Rosļikovs of "For Stability," who fled to Belarus and was the party's PM candidate in 2022, is now running second in Riga.
Finance Minister Māris Kučinskis, who ran with the Greens and Farmers' Union in 2018 while already serving as prime minister, is now ninth on the United List in Kurzeme. Juris Pūce, previously "Latvia's Development" PM candidate in the 12th Saeima election, again leads the party's list in Vidzeme.
Other repeat top candidates include Andris Skride, Maija Radziņa, Andžejs Zdanovičs, and Jūlija Stepaņenko, all of whom previously led their then-parties' lists. The 15th Saeima elections are scheduled for Saturday.
