On September 11, the three polling stations of Varakļāni municipality and 32 polling stations of Rēzekne municipality were visited by 7977 residents of these districts. Although both municipalities are geographically close, voter behavior and political interests in both municipalities are diametrically opposed.
Varakļāni municipality was initially added to Rēzekne municipality within the framework of administrative-territorial reform. Varakļāni Municipality Council opposed it and submitted an application to the Constitutional Court, emphasizing that the Saeima had acted contrary to the objectives of the reform and its basic criteria, as well as violated the principle of good legislation and local government. Also, the principle of subsidiarity has not been observed in the development of these norms and proper consultations with the residents and Municipality Council have not been performed. The Constitutional Court, having assessed the circumstances, concluded that the annexation of Varakļāni municipality to Rēzekne municipality did not comply with the Constitution. It is for this reason that municipal elections were held in Rēzekne municipality and Varakļāni municipality on Saturday, September 11.
In Varakļāni, the so far highest voter turnout in the recent municipal elections has been registered - 59% of voters went to the polls. At the beginning of the count, it looked like the Latvian Farmers' Union (Latvijas Zemnieku savienība) would win the election, but adding the results of the last polling station, the situation changed dramatically - it turned out that about 65% of voters voted for the For Latvia's Development (Latvijas attīstībai) list, whose leader is the head of the temporary administration of Varakļāni municipality Māris Justs. A total of 20% of the votes were cast for the Latvian Farmers' Union, 10% for the political party Latvian Association of Regions (Latvijas Reģionu apvienība), 10% for the National Alliance "All For Latvia!" - "For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK" (Nacionālā apvienība “Visu Latvijai!”-“Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK), and 4% for the Union of Residents (Apvienība Iedzīvotāji). Thus, Varakļāni Municipality Council has received 10 deputies from the list of For Latvia's Development (Justs, Anita Saleniece, Jānis Erels, Gunārs Gabrišs, Aina Jaunzeme, Dace Ozoliņa, Līga Upeniece, Viktors Vilkaušs, Nauris Lazda and Līna Nagle), three from the list of Latvian Farmers' Union (Janīna Grudule, Jānis Mozga and Ivars Gruduls) and two from the combined list of the political party Latvian Association of Regions, National Alliance "All For Latvia!" - "For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK" (Māris Višķers and Ieva Zepa). In total, the Council will have 15 deputies, that is, 6 more than before. In the 2017 elections, 9 deputies were elected to Varakļāni Municipality Council.
In Varakļāni municipality:
Eligible voters: 2544
Voters: 1512 (59.43%)
Valid envelopes: 1511 (59.39%)
Valid votes: 1491 (98.68%)
In Rēzekne municipality, on the other hand, voter turnout was extremely low. Only 26% of eligible voters went to the polls. This is less than the average in the June 5 elections and less than in the Riga City Council emergency elections last August.
In Rēzekne municipality, an almost equal number of votes was cast for the combined New Unity (Jaunā Vienotība), Movement For! (Kustība Par!) and Latgale Party (Latgales partija) list and Harmony (Saskaņa) - 28.92% and 27.34% of votes, respectively.
11.30% were given to the Union of Greens and Farmers (Zaļo un Zemnieku Savienība), 9.70% - For Latvia's Development, 7.88% - for the joint list of National Alliance "All For Latvia!" - "For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK", Latvian Association of Regions, 7.35% - for the New Conservative Party (Jaunā konservatīvā partija). The other two parties received less than 4%.
Thus, 6 deputies from the combined list of New Unity, Movement For! and Latgale Party have been elected in Rēzekne Municipality Council (Monvīds Švarcs, Vilis Deksnis, Anna Rancāne, Inta Brence, Anita Ludborža, Gunārs Igaunis). Harmony will be represented in Rēzekne Municipality Council by 6 deputies - Jekaterina Ivanova, Aivars Buharins, Edgars Nizins, Guna Popova, Vasilijs Arbidāns, Felicija Leščinska.
Two deputies - Ērika Teirumnieka and Aija Kiserovska - have been elected to the Council from the joint list of the National Alliance "All For Latvia!" - "For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK" and Latvian Association of Regions. There will also be two deputies from the For Latvia's Development - Georgijs Jevsikovs and Jānis Freibergs. The Union of Greens and Farmers has also won two seats in the Council, which will be filled by Kaspars Melnis and Gunārs Smeilis, while the New Conservative Party has only one seat, which has been won by Guntis Rasims.
In Rēzekne municipality:
Eligible voters: 24,946
Voters: 6465 (25.92%)
Valid envelopes: 6462 (25.90%)
Valid votes: 6392 (98.92%)
In Rēzekne municipality, Monvīds Švarcs, the former head of the temporary administration of Rēzekne municipality, received the most votes, while the most crossed-out deputy was Aivars Buharins (Harmony). However, as A. Buharins also received enough pluses, he is about in the middle in terms of the total number of votes. Aija Kiserovska (National Alliance "All For Latvia!" - "For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK", Latvian Association of Regions) received the least votes, because she had both few pluses and few strikethroughs.
M. Justs (For Latvia's Development) received the most votes in Varakļāni municipality. Viktors Vilkaušs (For Latvia's Development) has the most strikethroughs, but he, too, is not at the bottom of the list of total votes due to the many pluses. Jānis Erels has had the most pluses. Almost every third person who voted for the list of For Latvia's Development put a plus next to his name. Leader M. Justs got fewer pluses.
Ieva Zepa (Latvian Association of Regions, National Alliance "All For Latvia!" - "For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK") received the least votes in Varakļāni region, because she also had relatively few pluses.
*****
Be the first to read interesting news from Latvia and the world by joining our Telegram and Signal channels.