In Germany, after long negotiations, a government coalition was formed in early December by the Social Democrats, the Greens and the liberal Free Democratic Party; in Sweden, a coalition broke up and the government fell in June due to bitter internal political squabbles; in Finland, a coalition is formed by two big parties and a number of small ones; in Spain, the second government of Pedro Sánchez is a minority government formed by left-wing parties together with the Catalan nationalist party.
In Latvia, after the 13th Saeima elections, the formation of the government was long and painful - neither Jānis Bordāns nor Aldis Gobzems managed to get the necessary majority support in Parliament, but in the end, politicians agreed that Krišjānis Kariņš would be Prime Minister. The current coalition in the Riga City Council was created by creating an additional deputy mayor position, because otherwise one of the partners might be left empty-handed and unhappy.
Governments and municipalities are often formed in rather unattractive ways - the public starts to feel that there are dirty deals, politicians cannot agree, but there is nothing that can be done - this is the process of politics, which sometimes goes smoothly, but at other times not so much.
Coalitions are formed in all democracies at all levels of authorities (both at the government and municipalities), and at all times there have been negotiations about who will take what positions.
Now try to imagine a situation where, after the elections, politicians do not negotiate or agree on anything, but everyone stays at home and does not even send messages to each other.
There is one such miracle in the whole world - one single place on the globe - Dobele, where the air must be different, the laws of gravity different, and where politicians cannot meet, talk or agree on anything, because they might immediately be accused of being the most heinous corrupters who belong in prison.
This is what the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) thought in September.
Now the KNAB has changed its mind and announced that it has found no bribery and has dropped the criminal proceedings against Saeima Members Viktors Valainis (Union of Greens and Farmers, Zaļo un Zemnieku Savienība) and Ralfs Nemiro (The Independents, Neatkarīgie).
But of course. What else could the KNAB decide? Otherwise, the KNAB would have to officially announce that from now on the Republic of Latvia will have two different laws and two different truths - if the coalition and the seats are negotiated and agreed by New Unity (Jaunā Vienotība), Development/For! (Attīstībai/Par!), New Conservative Party (Jaunā konservatīvā partija) and similar "good parties", then everything is in order, fair, transparent, legal.
Conversely, if, as a result of elections, those parties that are in opposition to the government have the opportunity to build power in the municipality, then the politicians of these parties, even the popularly elected Members of the Saeima, are followed, wiretapped and accused. They are accused even when there is no reason to accuse them of corruption.
As has become known in the meantime, KNAB has apparently reacted to a petition by Māris Feldmanis (Who owns the state, KPV LV), a deputy of the Dobele municipality, in which it was stated that on September 9 this year, in the premises of the Parliament in Riga, MPs Valainis and Nemiro, in a group of persons, offered him as a bribe the post of the Deputy Chairman of the Dobele municipality in exchange for him voting no confidence in the then President of the Dobele Municipality, using his official position to join with the elected deputies of the municipality.
Who knows what Feldmanis agreed with Nemiro and then with Valainis, but offering a position can hardly be called a bribe or any similar words under the Criminal Law.
The KNAB has also listened to conversations between Nemiro and Feldmanis, but all it shows is that Nemiro cursed a few times, tried to persuade and convince the Dobele deputy, but did not offer or give Feldmanis money.
This is, unfortunately, again an empty criminal case, which should hardly have been brought in the first place. Two popularly elected Members of the 13th Saeima have been living in the shadow of the criminal proceedings since September. This has probably harmed their reputation. It is like the saying about the stolen coat - "it was not the politician who stole the coat, nor was it stolen from him, but there was something dirty there." The actions of the KNAB probably also had a chilling effect on the actions of the Dobele municipality and the Members of the Saeima - it is unlikely that negotiations on a coalition in Dobele could have gone smoothly if politicians knew that their conversations were being listened to and that they were being followed.
However, it is positive that the KNAB and the Prosecutor General's Office have not dragged their feet and have already terminated the criminal proceedings in December. In the worst-case scenario, they could have dragged it out until October, detained Nemiro and Valainis at the end of September and let them out of the cells on October 2, when the elections to the 14th Saeima would already be past. This would be classic, and there have been similar cases in Latvian history. But it seems the KNAB is probably not that sick - the bureau has seen that no case can be made and has released its grip on them.
According to Māris Urbāns, prosecutor of the Corruption Combating Coordination Division of the Prosecutor General's Office, the investigation in this case allowed for the definition of additional criteria to distinguish a legitimate offer of a position from a corrupt offer of a position. This, in turn, is promised to facilitate the future assessment of similar cases and the detection of corruption.
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