Latvia’s Parliament elects new head of state from 3 candidates in unpredictable vote

HELSINKI — Latvian lawmakers are set to elect a new head of state on Wednesday from a field of three candidates with no clear favorite.

The Baltic nation’s 100-seat Saeima legislature will choose a president to serve for a four-year term. Entrepreneur and businessman Uldis Pilens, civil society activist Elina Pinto and Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics are registered by parties to run in the race.

It had been considered all but certain that incumbent Egils Levits, Latvia’s president since 2019, would seek reelection for a second term. But in a surprise move announced earlier this month, Levits said he was disappointed that parties in Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins’ three-party coalition government hadn’t been able to agree on a joint candidate, and said he wouldn’t run in such a situation.

Latvia’s presidency is largely a ceremonial post and the head of state acts mainly as an opinion leader and uniting figure in the country where almost a third of residents speak Russian.

A Baltic nation of 1.9 million, Latvia borders Russia to the east, Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. Latvia has been a member of NATO and the European Union since 2004. The country is home to a sizable ethnic Russian minority, many of whom are Russian citizens.

Latvia regained its independence in 1991 amid the fall of the Soviet Union following nearly 50 years of Moscow’s occupation and rule. The new president will be Latvia’s 11th head of state, counting from the country’s first independence declared in 1918.

The president represents Latvia abroad, acts as the supreme commander of the armed forces, signs bills into law, nominates the prime minister and has the right to dissolve the Parliament, among other things.