Former Latvian President Egils Levits believes that the formation of a new government should not be rushed. He sees the fact that negotiations on a new government have not begun immediately as nothing to worry about.
"I believe that there is no need to rush to form a government," Levits said in an interview with Latvian Television on Tuesday morning.
"The president of the country has rightly said that we should try for November 18th [Latvia's independence day] - then there is enough time to prepare a coherent coalition agreement and form a government. There is definitely no need to rush."
"I would say that this is a very good approach - we must not rush, because there is a possibility of forming a government for four years," the former Latvian president pointed out. "The theoretical outlines of the coalition are clearly visible, [Prime Minister] Andris Kulbergs has also mentioned it – the United List plus the National Alliance and, possibly, New Unity."
"If you want a stable government for four years, 58 mandates would make much more sense [than the 51 of United List and National Alliance alone]," said the former head of state from 2019-2023.
Levits pointed out that voter turnout was disappointing [51%] in the 15th Saeima elections, but the good news is the high level of trust in the United List, which has won a record number of mandates with record low voter turnout.
"We need political stability that is focused on growth," Levits said. "I think this historic victory for the United List needs to be translated into real policies that are focused on change and improvement."
Levits suggests that the election winners take advantage of the opportunity to change themselves. "The United List is a coalition of parties, and this is a unique moment in the history of Latvia since 1918, when one heterogeneous political force has received such a large number of mandates in parliament, and this historic moment United List should use by transforming into a single party with a single leadership and gaining members," said Levits. "Then we would have one party with a certain political direction that will survive several elections."
In his opinion, voters would benefit from a party capable of pursuing targeted policies, rather than an alliance with many compromises within it.
Currently, both a two- and three-party coalition have been floated as options for the next government, with the latter option looking the most likely.
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