Latvian Russian Union
Latvian Russian Union Latvijas Krievu savienība Русский союз Латвии | |
---|---|
Colours | Blue Red |
Saeima | 0 / 100 |
European Parliament | 1 / 8 |
Riga City Council | 3 / 60 |
Website | |
rusojuz.lv | |
The Latvian Russian Union (LRU, Latvian: Latvijas Krievu savienība, Russian: Русский союз Латвии, romanized: Russkiy soyuz Latvii) (LKS) is a political party in Latvia supported mainly by ethnic Russians and other Russian-speaking minorities. The co-chairpersons of the Latvian Russian Union are Miroslavs Mitrofanovs and an alleged Russian agent[5][6][7] Tatjana Ždanoka.[1]
The party emphasizes issues important to the Russian minority in Latvia. It requests the granting of Latvian citizenship to all of Latvia's remaining non-citizens and supports Russian and Latgalian as co-official languages in municipalities where at least 20% of the population are native speakers of such a language. It supports stronger ties with both Russia and the European Union, and was the only major political organization to oppose Latvia's membership in NATO.
History
As ForHRUL (1998–2014)
As an electoral alliance (1998–2007)
The party originated as the
During this period, ForHRUL's most prominent leaders were Jānis Jurkāns, Alfrēds Rubiks and Tatjana Ždanoka. Jurkāns was a leader of the Popular Front of Latvia and founder of the National Harmony Party; Rubiks and Ždanoka were prominent as leaders of the Interfront movement, the Latvian branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the federalist movement in Latvia in the early 1990s. They were fairly popular in the Russian community but very unpopular among ethnic Latvians. ForHRUL therefore remained in opposition, because a coalition with Rubiks or Ždanoka was seen as a political suicide by most other elected parties.
ForHRUL partially broke up in 2003. The National Harmony Party was the first to leave the alliance and the Socialist Party followed half a year later. The remnant of ForHRUL consisted of Equal Rights and Free Choice in People's Europe . The latter was composed of dissident Socialist Party and National Harmony Party members, like Yakov Pliner, who opposed the decision to quit the alliance. This reduced grouping had only 6 members of the Saeima (out of 25 that the alliance had before the breakup). ForHRUL was the main force supporting the 2003-2005 activities of the Headquarters for the Protection of Russian Schools.
At the
As a single party (2007–2014)
In 2007, ForHRUL was transformed into a single party that retained the name and identity of the old electoral alliance. In recent years the party's support has declined as ethnic Russian voters have switched allegiance to the Harmony party, successor to the National Harmony Party. At the 2010 parliamentary election, the party lost its representation in the Latvian Parliament.
In 2011, the party launched an unsuccessful popular initiative on amending the law governing Latvian nationality. The Central Electoral Commission considered the proposed amendment to be incompatible with the Constitution of Latvia and the process of collecting signatures for a referendum on the proposals was suspended. This decision was eventually upheld by the Constitutional Court of Latvia and the Supreme Court of Latvia. It also supported the 2012 initiative to make Russian a co-official language in Latvia.
As Latvian Russian Union (2014–present)
In January 2014, ForHRUL changed its name to the Latvian Russian Union. At the
In July 2018, Ždanoka resigned her mandate in the European Parliament to focus on the
In the 2019 European Parliament election, LRU received 6.24% of the votes and gained one seat, held by Tatjana Ždanoka who personally received 18,098 plusses and was crossed out 739 times.[15] In the 2020 Riga City Council election, the party gained 6.5% of the votes and re-entered the Riga City Council with four seats.[16]
On April 8, 2022, the
LRU received a warning from the State Security Service for activities "aimed at justifying violations of foreign policy and international law by Russia, as well as the dissemination of propaganda messages". The party's leadership responded by warning its members "to refrain from speaking, distributing or publishing news that reflects Russia's view of this aggressive war, and to avoid publishing news from unsafe sources at all."[19][20] The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau informed LRU that the State Security Service warning could be regarded as grounds for halting state funding to the party.[21][22]
Election results
Legislative elections
Election | Party leader | Performance | Rank | Government | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | ± pp | Seats | +/– | ||||
1998[a] | Jānis Jurkāns | 135,700 | 14.20 | New | 16 / 100
|
New | 4th | Opposition |
2002 | 189,088 | 19.09 | 4.89 | 25 / 100
|
9 | 2nd | Opposition | |
2006 | Yakov Pliner | 54,684 | 6.06 | 13.03 | 6 / 100
|
19 | 7th | Opposition |
2010 | Juris Sokolovskis | 13,847 | 1.47 | 4.59 | 0 / 100
|
6 | 6th | Extra-parliamentary |
2011 | Yakov Pliner | 7,109 | 0.78 | 0.69 | 0 / 100
|
0 | 7th | Extra-parliamentary |
2014 | Miroslav Mitrofanov
|
14,390 | 1.59 | 0.81 | 0 / 100
|
0 | 7th | Extra-parliamentary |
2018 | Andrejs Mamikins | 27,014 | 3.22 | 1.63 | 0 / 100
|
0 | 9th | Extra-parliamentary |
2022 | 32,688 | 3.67 | 0.45 | 0 / 100
|
0 | 11th | Extra-parliamentary |
European Parliament
Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2004 | Tatjana Ždanoka | 61,401 | 10.75 (#3) | 1 / 9
|
|
2009 | 76,436 | 9.84 (#3) | 1 / 8
|
0 | |
2014 | 28,303 | 6.43 (#5) | 1 / 8
|
0 | |
2019 | 29,546 | 6.28 (#5) | 1 / 8
|
0 |
Riga City Council
Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
---|---|---|---|---|
2005 | 27,728 | 13.68 | 9 / 60
|
4 |
2009 | 6,519 | 2.7 | 0 / 60
|
9 |
2020 | 11,170 | 6.5 | 4 / 60
|
4 |
See also
- Giulietto Chiesa, an Italian candidate on the ForHRUL list for the 2009 European Parliament elections.
References
- ^ a b "Leaders of Latvian Russian Union". Latvian Russian Union. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
- ^ "Informācija par politisko partiju biedru skaitu". Uzņēmumu reģistra tīmekļvietne (in Latvian). Retrieved 2023-03-07.
- ^ Nordsieck, Wolfram (2010). "Latvia". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 2011-07-26.
- ^ "Most stubborn survivor speaks out".
- ^ "Exclusive: Latvian Member of European Parliament is an agent of Russian intelligence, leaked emails confirm".
- ^ Tjoflot, Eirin (2024-01-31). "EU-politikar var russisk agent". NRK (in Norwegian Nynorsk). Retrieved 2024-02-10.
- ^ "New investigation alleges Latvian member of European Parliament has secretly worked for Russian FSB for 20 years".
- ^ "Pro Russia party signs major deal with Crimea group". The Baltic Times. August 13, 2014. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
- ^ "Ždanoka quits Brussels to run Saeima campaign for party". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. January 15, 2018. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
- ^ "13th Saeima elections: The parties (Part 1)". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. August 13, 2018. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
- ^ "Ždanoka may get shot at Saeima elections after all". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. June 30, 2018. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
- ^ Klūga, Māris (October 8, 2018). "Three of the smaller parties to get state funding". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
- ^ "No state cash for Latvian Russian Union". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. November 30, 2018. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
- ^ "Latvia's Russian Union succeeds in opening bank account after lengthy negotiations". The Baltic Times. 31 July 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
- ^ "European Parliament election results announced in Latvia". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 27 May 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
- ^ "Development/For!/Progressives lead the way in Rīga council elections". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 30 August 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
- ^ "The Bureau suspends the Latvian Russian Union as a member party of EFA". European Free Alliance. April 8, 2022. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
- ^ "Latvian Russians Union threatens with "war" if Victory Monument tampered with". Baltic News Network. 14 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
- ^ "Latvian Russian Union gets warning by security service". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 22 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
- ^ "Security Service warns Latvia's Russian Union against justification of Russia's aggression". The Baltic Times. 23 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
- ^ "Continued spreading of Kremlin propaganda might be reason for halting funding for Latvia's Russian Union - Corruption Prevention Burau". The Baltic Times. 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
- ^ "Pro-Kremlin posts may cost Latvian Russians Union its state funding". Baltic News Network. LETA. 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
External links
- Official website (in English)