Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs' United List was set to win 42 of 100 Saeima seats with most ballots counted, the largest single-party result since independence, according to the election commission figures cited Sunday.
Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs' United List was on course for a record parliamentary result in Latvia's Saeima election, Bloomberg reported on Sunday. With more than 95 percent of ballots counted, the central election commission figures cited by Bloomberg gave the party 42 seats in the 100-member parliament.
Bloomberg said that was the best result recorded by a single party since Latvia regained independence in 1991. The vote came as the Baltic state has treated security threats from Russia as a central political issue.
Latvian outlet BB.LV, citing preliminary Central Election Commission data after about 99 percent of votes were counted, reported United List on 35.3 percent, Latvia First on 13.1 percent and the Sovereign Power/Union of Young Latvians coalition on 11.74 percent. On that distribution it listed 42 seats for United List, 17 for Latvia First, 15 for the third-placed coalition, 10 for the National Alliance, nine for the Progressives and seven for New Unity.
BB.LV said eight lists failed to clear the 5 percent threshold, including ZZS, and that turnout was the lowest since independence was restored. Those figures remained preliminary on Sunday morning.
A majority of this size would let Kulbergs try to form a government with fewer partners than recent Latvian coalitions, though final certification and coalition talks were still ahead when the early counts were published.