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http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/dt/Qlatvia-vote.R7Nc_CO3.html As EU, NATO invitations loom, Latvia votes for a new parliament -Placed a close third in recent polls is the left leaning For Human Rights in a United Latvia (FHRUL), which campaigns on behalf of the country's Russian speakers, who represent almost a third of the population. Many of them are Soviet era settlers who have not naturalised and have no voting rights. RIGA, Oct 3 (AFP) - The ex-Soviet state of Latvia goes to the polls on Saturday to choose the team which will steer the Baltic country through to membership of the European Union and NATO. The government which emerges from the 100-strong parliament elected by the 1.4 million voters will be tasked with pushing Latvia towards the finishing line in its EU membership talks by end year and ensuring that it gets its expected invitation to join the NATO military alliance at a November summit in Prague. The latest opinion polls show that voters in the chilly country of 2.35 million people are unimpressed by the efforts of the Latvia's Way party of Prime Minister Andris Berzins, and suggest that another coalition government is likely. With two and a half years at the helm Berzins is the country's longest standing prime minister. However, polls suggest that he will get only 5.5 percent of the vote, just enough to squeeze his party back into parliament under the country's system of proportional representation. Although Berzins has all but ensured Latvia gets into the EU and NATO and helped the Latvian economy buck the global downturn last year, growing by 7.6 percent, that is cold comfort to the eight percent of the population which is out of work, sidelined by the slow modernisation of old Soviet-era businesses. "The benefits ... that we're proud of are not things that come overnight. Closing EU chapters doesn't mean anything to the man on the street," Berzins' advisor Peteris Elferts acknowledged. Latvia has ploughed through all but three of the 31 negotiating areas, or "chapters" in EU speak, it needs to conclude before it gets confirmation in December that it is ready to join the EU in 2004. "Latvia's economy is booming and it's on the verge of achieving major foreign policy goals, but the election is up in the air," said Pauls Raudseps, editor of the leading daily Diena. Although it has raced ahead its EU and NATO membership preparations, Latvia's efforts to join both organisations have been dogged by concerns over its record in fighting corruption. Benefiting from what is perceived as a poor performance by Berzins has been the centre-right People's Party of Andris Skele, a coalition partner, which led the pack in the latest Latvijas Fakti poll with 14.9 percent support. However, a bitter row between coalition partners threw a cat among the pigeons just days before the election. As the poll approached Berzins sacked his People's Party Interior Minister Mareks Seglins, saying he had orchestrated the detention by law enforcement agents of a senior Latvia's Way official who had been involved in underhand campaign tactics. The row could tip the balance in favor of the right-of-center New Era party, formed earlier this year by a popular former central bank head, Einars Repse, on a ticket of transparency and efficiency. Despite spurning the use of advertising, New Era led in opinion polls until a few weeks ago and was close to the People's Party in the latest Latvijas Fakti poll at 13.6 percent. But any New Era victory is unlikely to be overwhelming due to the country's proportional representation system, Karlis Streips, a political commentator for Radio Latvia, said. Placed a close third in recent polls is the left leaning For Human Rights in a United Latvia (FHRUL), which campaigns on behalf of the country's Russian speakers, who represent almost a third of the population. Many of them are Soviet era settlers who have not naturalised and have no voting rights. The situation of the Russian minority has proved a regular bone of contention between Riga and its former Soviet master Russia. For Fatherland and Freedom, the third partner in the government coalition, has fared badly in opinion polls having been seen to have done badly at its job of managing the health system. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo! http://sbc.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
