Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins is set to launch talks on forming a new centrist coalition after negotiations with his current rightwing partners ran into a brick wall at the coalition’s latest extraordinary meeting, Latvian media reported.
New negotiations will be launched between Karin's centre-right New Unity alliance with the centrist Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS), and the social democratic Progressives party, which would hold 52 parliamentary seats in Latva’s 100-strong legislature.
Karins announced he is not considering stepping down and is determined to remake the government.
The announcement of new government coalition negotiations follows the rejection by the radical rightwing National Alliance and the centre-right United List of Karins' proposal for a rotation of ministerial responsibilities, suggested earlier this week.
For his part, Karins has allegedly rejected a solution proposed by the National Alliance and the United List for further work of the ruling coalition.
The New Unity-National Alliance-United List coalition controlled 54 parliamentary seats in the 100-seat legislature.
After the latest parliamentary election in autumn 2022 the Progressives were considered a potential co-ruling partner in the coalition formed by New Unity, but the idea was strongly opposed by the National Alliance and United List.
The ruling New Unity remains the most popular party at present, with some 12.6% of support registered in July, which marks a slight increase m/m, the latest figures of the SKDS political survey showed.
The ZZS followed in second place with 8% of support, also marking a slight increase m/m, while the Progressives came third with 7.9%, down from 9.0% in June.
By forming a new coalition with the ZZS and the Progressives Karins might benefit from the strong popularity of both . Their relatively strong support is in contrast to that of current co-ruling partners National Alliance and the United List, which have seen their support decline in recent months.