This has prompted concern in Washington and Brussels that Russia could have influence in this Nato country and European Union member state.
The Harmony Centre, which has strong links with the ruling United Russia party of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, won 30 per cent of votes cast in the Baltic state. The runners-up were two centre-right parties which both polled around 20 per cent of the vote. By the time Tribune went to press, the Harmony Centre was leading negotiations with the other two parties to form a coalition government.
Latvia, along with the other Baltic states of Estonia and Lithuania, was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940 in accordance with a secret protocol contained within the non-aggression treaty signed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939.
Following the collapse of the Soviet state in 1991, Latvia’s ethnic Russian minority, which constitutes one-third of the country’s 2.2 million population, was marginalised and discriminated against by successive Latvian governments. Approximately 345,000 people eligible to have voted in the recent parliamentary elections were not allowed to do so because they are categorised under Latvian law as “non-citizens” of foreign descent, which severely restricts their freedoms. Despite Latvia being a member of the EU, Brussels has shown little interest in these human rights violations.
While the Harmony Centre has traditionally been supported by Latvia’s Russian minority, it would appear that it has now widened its base of support to include approximately 15 per cent of ethnic Latvians. The party’s leader, Nils Usakovs, an ethnic Russian, has called for an end to role of powerful business men in Latvian politics, encouraged more social welfare spending and argued against Latvia joining the Euro-popular stances with many Latvians.
