Harmony Centre
Harmony Centre Saskaņas Centrs Центр согласия | |
---|---|
GUE/NGL (LSP) | |
Member parties | National Harmony Party Socialist Party of Latvia New Centre Daugavpils City Party Social Democratic Party |
Colours | Red White |
Slogan | A decent life for everyone (Latvian: Pienācīga dzīve visiem; Russian: Достойная жизнь для каждого) |
Seats in the 11th Saeima | 31 / 100 |
Seats in the 7th European Parliament | 2 / 8 |
Website | |
saskanascentrs.lv | |
Harmony Centre (
Ideologically a
History
Founded on 9 July 2005,
In 2010 and 2011 the National Harmony Party, New Centre, Social Democratic Party and Daugavpils City Party merged to form the Social Democratic Party "Harmony", which continued in alliance with the Socialist Party until 2014.
In its nine years of existence, Harmony Centre became the most popular political force in the
In the 2018 parliamentary election Harmony once again received the most votes, securing 23 out of 100 seats in the Latvian parliament, but was left outside the coalition.[12]
Election results
Legislative elections
Election | Party leader | Performance | Rank | Government | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | ± pp | Seats | +/– | ||||
2006 | Jānis Urbanovičs | 130,887 | 14.52 | New | 17 / 100
|
New | 4th | Opposition |
2010 | 251,400 | 26.61 | 12.09 | 29 / 100
|
12 | 2nd | Opposition | |
2011 | Nils Ušakovs | 259,930 | 28.62 | 2.01 | 31 / 100
|
4 | 1st | Opposition |
2014 | 209,887 | 23.15 | 5.47 | 24 / 100
|
4 | 1st | Opposition |
European Parliament elections
Election | Party leader | Performance | Rank | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | ± pp | Seats | +/– | |||
2009 | Alfrēds Rubiks | 154,894 | 19.93 | New | 2 / 8
|
New | 2nd |
Political positions
Social democracy, progressive income taxation, minority rights, participatory democracy, internationalisation of higher education, good relations with Russia. Economically, Harmony Centre supported increased social spending, in order to boost the economy and increase general welfare.[original research?]
On the occupation of Latvia
Both chairman of "Harmony Centre's" Parliamentary faction Jānis Urbanovičs and leader of the alliance Nils Ušakovs have rejected calling Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 an "occupation", arguing that from the perspective of international law it was an "annexation" instead, because Kārlis Ulmanis actively collaborated with Soviet representatives in Latvia, and compared recognizing occupation of Latvia to repressions against the society. However, they admitted that "If it had been clearly stated already at the very beginning that recognizing the fact would in no way harm people who immigrated during the Soviet times, Harmony Center would agree to recognize even ten such occupations."[13]
Ušakovs has emphasized that "no doubt Latvia was forcibly annexed by the Soviet Union and it was followed by brutal Stalinist regime crimes against Latvia and its people", but also believed it's important to say that Soviet regime ended when the then-Russian Federation’s army left the country, claiming that otherwise, certain politic forces could bring up "de-occupation" again.[14] Later Urbanovičs summarized similarly: "there were occupations in Latvia, there are no occupants".[15] Both of them have also proposed to postpone the debate on national and historical issues and focus on the economic and social problems instead.[16]
MP from Harmony Centre Boris Tsilevitch has pointed out that no official documents testify Harmony Centre recognizing the occupation.[17] MEP from Harmony Centre and chairman of the Socialist Party of Latvia, one of the parties making up Harmony Centre, Alfrēds Rubiks has also declared that he has never recognized Latvia’s occupation and never will, because he believes the country was not occupied by the Soviet Union.[18]
On the Ukrainian crisis
Urbanovičs blamed the
Ušakovs has said he fully supports Ukrainian territorial integrity, "including Crimea",[20] but did not want to analyze who was to blame for what happened in Ukraine and called for an international investigation.[21] He also criticised EU sanctions against Russia as ineffective and damaging for the Latvian economy.[22][23] On 4 March 2014, 28 Harmony Centre deputies voted against a resolution of the Saeima that strongly condemned Russia's military involvement and aggression in Ukraine.[24]
References
- ^ https://saskana.eu/ru/o-nas/ О «Согласии»
- ^ a b c "Left-wing Russian parties form alliance in Latvia". The Baltic Times. 11 July 2005. Retrieved 2 June 2007.
- ISBN 978-1-317-62836-1.
- ISBN 978-1-78254-588-0.
- ISBN 978-0-313-39181-1.
- ^ a b Nordsieck, Wolfram (2011). "Latvia". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
- ^ Dahl, James (22 September 2010). "Latvia on the brink – once again". Politico Europe.
- ^ "Latvian vote may mean minority government". Radio France Internationale. 17 September 2011.
- ^ Eglitis, Aaron (13 July 2005). "Harmony Center makes political debut". The Baltic Times. Retrieved 2 June 2007.
- ^ "Social Democratic Party in Latvia to join Harmony Center". The Baltic Course. 19 January 2009. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
- ^ Schwirtz, Michael (18 September 2011). "Latvian Election Shows Gains for Pro-Russia Party". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
- ^ "Pro-Russia party wins Latvia election but tough talks loom". BBC News. 8 October 2018.
- ^ "Urbanovich and Ushakov agree upon issues as another national language and occupation". Baltic News Network. 13 September 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
- ^ "Ushakov: Harmony Center fears de-occupation coming to light again". Baltic News Network. 9 September 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
- ^ "Urbanovics: there have been occupations, but no occupants". Baltic News Network. 3 October 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
- ^ "Usakovs says postpone debate". The Baltic Times. 3 August 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
- ^ "Cilevich: no documents say Harmony Center recognizes occupation". Baltic News Network. 20 October 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
- ^ "Latvija in brief - 2011-08-04". The Baltic Times. 3 August 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
- ^ "Harmony leader: Ukraine crisis is West's attempt to break Russia". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 25 August 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
- ^ Walker, Shaun (26 December 2014). "Riga mayor: 'I'm a Russian-speaking Latvian and patriot of my country'". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
- ^ "Ušakovs calls Russians to calm their Latvian neighbours down; Crimea has to stay in Ukraine" (in Latvian). Delfi. 12 May 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
- ^ Macdonald, Alastair; Krūtaine, Aija (9 January 2015). "Leader of Latvia's Russian-speakers fears sanctions backfiring". Reuters. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
- ^ "Ušakovs: EU sanctions against Russia a failure". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 26 December 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
- ^ "Latvia's Saeima strongly condemns Russia's military aggression in Ukraine". The Baltic Course. 6 March 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
External links
- www.saskanascentrs.lv (in Russian and Latvian)