Deputies are skeptical about the offer to elect the President in secret elections

Since the draft amendment to the Constitution was submitted already after the approval of the agenda of the March 23 session of the Saeima, the deputies had to decide on its inclusion in the agenda. However, the Saeima rejected this proposal. 21 voted for inclusion in the agenda, and 65 voted against, no one abstained.

Now the document could possibly be decided at the regular meeting on Thursday, March 30. The agenda of this meeting has not yet been announced.

Chairman of the LPV faction, Ainārs Shlesers, said at the meeting that there are many MPs from the ruling coalition who do not want to support the re-election of Egils Levitt as the President, but the faction is forcing them to do so. The deputy believes that the re-election of Levits would currently be against the interests of the majority of Latvian society.

Similarly, Vilis Kristopans (LPV) emphasized that the President is the president of the entire nation, but Levits is not. “He was one hundred percent, two hundred percent president of the coalition,” Kristopan is convinced. According to the deputy, as soon as Levitt became the president, he turned his back on part of the people.

TVNET already reported that the LPV Saeima faction is calling for the President to be elected in secret elections

The faction is proposing to amend the Constitution, specifying that the President is elected by secret ballot, with a majority of votes of no less than 51 members of the Saeima. Currently, Article 36 of the Constitution stipulates that the election of the President of the State shall be open.

LPV MPs point out that the 12th Saeima, in 2018, a few days before the presidential elections, amended the Constitution, changing the presidential election from closed to open elections. By making the election process more transparent, in LPV’s opinion, the members of the Saeima of that time mistakenly hoped that this would increase trust in the parliament. However, public trust in the Saeima has not increased, on the contrary, LPV believes.

“Voting openly for the presidential candidate, Saeima members are forced to submit to the discipline of the faction, which stipulates that they must vote in accordance with the decision of the faction. The penalty for disobeying factional discipline is expulsion from the faction and becoming an independent member. By becoming an independent member of parliament, a politician is to some extent “excluded” from many political processes of the Saeima,” the faction says in the annotation of the bill.

In LPV’s assessment, the amendments will give the MP the opportunity to vote for the candidate for the President whom he considers to be the most suitable for the high office, unhindered and uninfluenced.