Latvia is a small country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe, which lies just across the Baltic sea to the east from Sweden. It is unitary parliamentary republic, which has restored its independence in 1991 and renewed its constitution called Satversme in 1993. [4] Latvia became a member of European Union on May 1, 2004 and a member of NATO on March 29, 2004. [4] From the 90's it made important steps towards stabilization of democracy and self-display on international political arena. However, there is lots of work to do and plenty of goals to achieve on the way to ideal democracy — fight against corruption, discrimination and increasing mistrust from the voters' side.
Similar to Sweden in Latvia sovereign power belongs to people, whose interests represents 100 seat unicameral parliament, called Saeima, elected by direct popular vote every four years. The elections of the latest 9th Saeima were held on October 7, 2006, when approximately 70% of voters, including those who voted abroad, chose 7 parties from 19 submitted candidates list to defend their interests in parliament. [6] At the moment there are
• People's Party (Tautas Partija),
• Union of Greens & Farmers (Zaļo un Zemnieku Savienība),
• New Era Party (Jaunais Laiks),
• Harmony Centre (Saskaņas centrs),
• coalition of Latvia's First Party (Latvijas Pirmā Partija) and Latvian Way (Latvijas Ceļš),
• for Fatherland and Freedom (Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK),
• For Human Rights in United Latvia (Par Cilvēka Tiesībām Vienotā Latvijā).
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