Exit poll, partial results show Latvians opt for stability while electing parliament

Latvians opt for political stability in key poll

RIGA, Latvia — Voters in Latvia, which has suffered one of the world’s worst recessions, agreed to endure more painful economic reforms by re-electing the country’s center-right government, a nearly complete vote count in Saturday’s election shows.

With over 90 percent of the ballots counted, the government of Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis has won the election with nearly 59 percent of the vote, according to the Central Election Committee. That would give it control of almost two-thirds of Parliament.

Dombrovskis, who leads the centrist Unity party, took office in March 2009 after the previous coalition in the Baltic state collapsed amid political and economic turmoil.

He campaigned on a pledge to fight corruption and continue the unpopular budget cuts and tax hikes required to meet a euro7.5 billion ($10.3 billion) international bailout program that a previous government signed onto two years ago to avert bankruptcy.

Results trickling in early Sunday showed Unity finished first with over 31 percent of votes — a surprise turnaround after nearly all pre-election polls had suggested a victory by the pro-Russia Harmony Center, which had promised voters to soften the austerity measures and strengthen ties with Moscow.

Harmony Center was poised to finish second with approximately 25 percent, though it will likely remain in opposition in Parliament.

Dombrovskis said the results showed voters rejected populism and opted for stability.

“The existing coalition parties will begin talks on forming a new government tomorrow,” he told journalists.

A victory by the center-left Harmony Center, which consists primarily of ethnic Russians, would have thrown into question the financial bailout program for Latvia, where economic output has plunged 25 percent over the past two years.

President Valdis Zatlers, who has the right to nominate the next prime minister, has said that one criterion in his selection will be strict adherence to the emergency bailout package put together by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union in December 2008.

The bailout saved Latvia from bankruptcy after the economy had overinflated during four years of double-digit growth, but it also shackles any future government to harsh budget cuts and tax hikes — something that will not sit well with a population that saw unemployment reach nearly 25 percent last year.

The economic difficulties will continue regardless of who is part of the next government, which will have to make some 400 million lats ($770 million) in both tax hikes and budget cuts to bring the 2011 budget deficit down to 6 percent as mandated by the IMF-led deal.

Analysts say the budget negotiations could led to tension in the next coalition and possibly even a collapse.

The Central Election Commission said preliminary results showed voter turnout was 62.6 percent, slightly more than the last election.