2026 Latvian parliamentary election

On 3 October 2026, voters in Latvia elected the 100 members of the Saeima, the unicameral parliament. Polls were open from 08:00 to 20:00. Latvian public media described the contest as the election of the 15th Saeima, and the German news agency dpa called it the eleventh parliamentary election since the restoration of independence in 1991. Fourteen candidate lists were on the ballot.

The Central Election Commission, in a tally updated at 13:43 on 4 October and covering 1,053 of 1,059 polling stations, reported that 804,395 of 1,557,615 registered voters had cast ballots, a turnout of 51.64 percent. LSM, the public broadcaster, described that figure as the lowest turnout in a Saeima election since independence, under the 54.6 percent recorded in 2018 and about 59 percent in 2022. On the same preliminary count, valid ballot envelopes numbered 803,084 and valid ballot papers 792,432. The commission calculates each list's percentage from valid envelopes and requires 5 percent of those envelopes for a list to win seats, which are then distributed inside five constituencies.

Apvienotais saraksts (the United List), the alliance of Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs, received 283,892 votes, 35.288 percent, and 41 seats after all 1,059 polling stations were counted (a preliminary tally had shown 283,428 votes, 35.292 percent and 42 seats). Latvija pirmajā vietā (Latvia First) followed with 105,124 votes, 13.090 percent and 17 seats, and Suverēnā vara / Apvienība Jaunlatvieši (Sovereign Power / Young Latvians) with 94,159 votes, 11.725 percent and 15 seats. The National Alliance won 10 seats, the Progressives 10, and New Unity 7. The Union of Greens and Farmers, a partner in the outgoing cabinet, finished on 4.407 percent and received no seats. LSM wrote that 41 seats was the most any single list had won in Latvian parliamentary history, above the 36 taken by Latvian Way in 1993. dpa reported that the United List, which had entered parliament only four years earlier, had nearly tripled its number of seats and recorded the best result of any party since the restoration of independence in 1991. An election-night exit poll using SKDS methodology for Rīga Stradiņš University and the LETA news agency had also placed the United List at 35 percent.

Kulbergs had been prime minister since May 2026, heading a four-party coalition, after the cabinet of Evika Siliņa resigned when her government split over drone incidents in which two misdirected Ukrainian aircraft crashed near the border with Russia. The campaign was held while Russia's war against Ukraine was treated in Latvia as a direct security threat. Latvia, a member of the European Union and NATO that borders Russia and Belarus, asked allied governments to help protect the vote, and Germany sent four Eurofighter jets shortly before election day. Kulbergs campaigned on additional anti-drone defences and on holding defence spending at 5 percent of gross domestic product, while parties Al Jazeera described as his pro-Kremlin rivals argued for ending aid to Ukraine and concentrating on the cost of living. Deutsche Welle reported that, since 2022, Latvia had reduced imports from Russia and Belarus by more than 90 percent, and that remaining economic links were a campaign fault line. AFP wrote that Latvia First and Sovereign Power gained among Russian-speakers, about a third of the population, after Harmony’s collapse in 2022. After casting his own ballot he said he hoped for a more stable course, which he linked to a stronger economy and greater security.

By the afternoon of 4 October no new government had been submitted to parliament. The United List announced that it would first discuss forming a coalition with its current partners. The president, Edgars Rinkēvičs, nominates a candidate to assemble a cabinet; the parties negotiate a coalition agreement, and the Saeima invests the government by majority vote. LSM reported that the United List, the National Alliance and New Unity together held 59 seats on the preliminary allocation, and that Latvia First, Sovereign Power / Young Latvians and the Progressives were the lists most likely to form the opposition. LSM wrote that, given the United List’s dominance and the likelihood that a new coalition would resemble the outgoing cabinet minus the Union of Greens and Farmers, the process could be much quicker than usual.

Background

The 14th Saeima

Voters elected the 14th Saeima on 1 October 2022. On 17 October the Central Election Commission confirmed the 100-seat result: New Unity 26 seats (173,425 votes, 18.97 percent); the Union of Greens and Farmers 16 (12.44 percent); the United List 15 (11.01 percent); the National Alliance 13 (9.29 percent); For Stability! 11 (6.8 percent); the Progressives 10 (6.16 percent); and Latvia First nine (6.24 percent). Development/For! (4.97 percent) and Harmony (4.81 percent) missed the 5 percent threshold.

Krišjānis Kariņš of New Unity remained prime minister with the National Alliance and the United List. The partners could not agree on a presidential candidate, and Edgars Rinkēvičs, then foreign minister, was elected with votes from New Unity and from the opposition Greens and Farmers and Progressives. Kariņš then tried to bring those two parties into government. His partners refused, and on 14 August 2023 he resigned, which counted as the resignation of his cabinet.

On 15 September 2023 the Saeima confirmed Evika Siliņa, also of New Unity, by 53 votes to 29, making her the second woman in the office after Laimdota Straujuma. New Unity, the Greens and Farmers and the Progressives held 52 seats, plus a vote from independent Oļegs Burovs, a smaller majority than the government they replaced. Latvian public media called New Unity centrist to soft right, the Progressives social democrats, and the Greens and Farmers a conservative agrarian alliance. Siliņa said Latvia's Euro-Atlantic course and support for Ukraine would continue. The National Alliance and the United List attacked the change; Latvia First and For Stability! called for dissolving the Saeima.

Collapse of the Siliņa government

The coalition lasted until May 2026, when stray Ukrainian drones split it. Politico reported that two drones hit oil facilities and that, on the Sunday before she quit, Siliņa dismissed Progressives defence minister Andris Sprūds. She nominated army colonel Raivis Melnis to replace him. Public media described Sprūds as having resigned and reported the same nomination.

On Wednesday 13 May the Progressives withdrew support, leaving New Unity without a majority. Faction leader Andris Šuvajevs said a no-confidence vote would bring the cabinet down. Siliņa resigned on Thursday 14 May, saying "political jealousy and narrow party interests" had outweighed responsibility and that others had chosen a crisis rather than accept Melnis. The resignation brought down the government, which stayed on until a successor was approved. Rinkēvičs set faction talks at Riga Castle for the next day.

Latvia, like Estonia and Lithuania, had treated spillover from Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a test for NATO's eastern flank. Public media later described the trigger as one stray Ukrainian drone and a break with the Progressives within days, and noted that further drones crossed the border without ministers being removed.

The Kulbergs cabinet

Rinkēvičs asked United List deputy Andris Kulbergs to form a government. At an extraordinary sitting on 28 May 2026 the Saeima approved it by 66 votes to 25. Its press service called this the 43rd Cabinet of Latvia and the third of the 14th Saeima, assembled after Siliņa's resignation on 14 May.

The majority joined New Unity and the Greens and Farmers, still in office from Siliņa's coalition, with the previously opposition United List and National Alliance. Kulbergs named security, budget stabilization, fair elections, and action against cartels and corruption as priorities. A declaration of about 1,500 words and 52 points put border security and anti-drone measures first, including compensation for drone damage, and also promised support for Ukraine, tighter immigration and long-stay visa rules, a spending review, and work on Rail Baltica and airBaltic. Two of 15 ministers were women: Baiba Braže stayed at foreign affairs and Ilze Indriksone took education. Melnis, nominated by New Unity, became defence minister, and Māris Kučinskis of the United List took finance.

The cabinet was due to last only until the 3 October 2026 election, a little over four months, and Kulbergs said he would avoid divisive issues while reviewing the budget. On polling day dpa reported about 1.5 million eligible voters and 14 lists, with security and living costs the main concerns. The United List led the polls, and no list was forecast to win a majority. After voting, Kulbergs said he hoped for a more stable course, tied to a stronger economy and greater security. It was the 11th Saeima election since independence was restored in 1991.

Electoral system

Constituencies, threshold and seat allocation

The Saeima has 100 deputies, elected for four years by secret ballot and proportional representation. The Saeima Election Law divides Latvia into five multi-member constituencies—Riga, Vidzeme, Latgale, Kurzeme and Zemgale—and requires seats in each to follow the number of electors.

The Central Election Commission sets the seats from the Register of Natural Persons five months before election day: the national electorate is divided by 100, each constituency total is divided by that quotient, and seats still short of 100 go to the largest fractions. Voters abroad are counted in Riga. On 7 May 2026 it fixed 38 seats in Riga, 26 in Vidzeme, 13 in Zemgale, 12 in Latgale and 11 in Kurzeme—two more in Riga than at the previous election, and one fewer each in Latgale and Kurzeme.

A list is excluded everywhere if, across Latvia, it has less than 5 per cent of the votes cast, whether it stood in one constituency or several. That total is the number of valid ballot envelopes, not valid ballot papers. The commission’s 2026 results pages use the same base for percentages and for the threshold.

Above the threshold, seats are divided inside each constituency by the Sainte-Laguë method: valid ballot papers for a list are divided by 1, 3, 5, 7 and so on, up to the number of its candidates, and the largest quotients take the seats. Because each constituency is calculated on its own, a list with more votes nationally can receive fewer seats.

Open lists and preference votes

The ballot is an open list. The voter is given every list registered in the constituency and one stamped envelope, and inserts a single list; an unmarked list counts for that list. A “par” (for) mark may be placed beside a candidate the voter particularly supports, and a “pret” (against) mark beside one the voter does not; neither is required.

A candidate’s total is the votes for the list, plus ballots marked “for” that name and minus those marked “against”. The highest totals fill the seats won by the list; a tie keeps the order filed with the list. A person may stand on only one list and in only one constituency. A list may have at most five names more than the seats, so the 2026 ceilings were 43 in Riga, 31 in Vidzeme, 18 in Zemgale, 17 in Latgale and 16 in Kurzeme.

Franchise, timing and early voting

Citizens with full rights of citizenship who are 18 on election day may vote, and a citizen older than 21 may stand. The election law also withholds candidacy from a person under guardianship, serving a custodial sentence, or with an unexpunged conviction for an intentional offence, and from defined security-service personnel and persons active after 13 January 1991 in organisations listed in the statute. Only a party founded at least a year earlier with at least 500 members, or an alliance meeting the same age and membership rules, could file lists; higher membership figures take effect on 1 January 2027.

A voter may use any station in Latvia; the papers are those of the constituency where the station sits. Voting abroad uses the Riga lists and is added to Riga. Polling day was Saturday 3 October 2026—the statutory first Saturday in October—from 08:00 to 20:00, on production of a valid Latvian passport or identity card.

In the preceding week a voter in Latvia could deposit a ballot for safekeeping at any station, at the hours fixed by statute and used in 2026: 28 September, 17:00–20:00; 29 September, 08:00–11:00; 30 September, 17:00–20:00; 1 October, 08:00–11:00; and 2 October, 12:00–15:00. Voting again on election day cancels the stored ballot, and only the later vote counts. Abroad, the commission ran 88 stations, 40 at Latvian missions; postal applications closed on 25 September, eight days before election day.

Parties and candidates

Lists that entered the Saeima

The Central Election Commission registered 14 lists and 1,428 candidates for the 3 October 2026 election of the 100-seat Saeima; ballot numbers were drawn on 6 July. On the commission's count, six lists passed the 5% threshold of valid ballot envelopes: the United List, Latvia First, Sovereign Power / Alliance of Young Latvians, the National Alliance, the Progressives and New Unity.

The United List (Apvienotais saraksts) joins the Latvian Green Party, the Latvian Association of Regions and the Liepāja Party. Its prime-ministerial candidate was Andris Kulbergs, who led the Riga list and was prime minister, having been nominated after Evika Siliņa's government fell in the spring. The list held 15 seats in the outgoing 14th Saeima. LSM described it as conservative and business-oriented.

Latvia First (Latvija pirmajā vietā) had won nine seats in 2022. Its prime-ministerial candidate and Riga leader was city councillor Ainārs Šlesers, whom LSM called a populist and, in the broadcaster's word, "Trumpist". Sovereign Power / Alliance of Young Latvians (Suverēnā vara / Apvienība Jaunlatvieši) had no outgoing seats. Prime-ministerial candidate Jūlija Stepaņenko, a Riga councillor and former deputy, led its Riga list; LSM placed the alliance with the populist "family values" current and later grouped it with Latvia First as soft on Russia.

The National Alliance (Nacionālā apvienība "Visu Latvijai!"—"Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK"), called nationalist by LSM, held 13 seats in 2022. Prime-ministerial candidate Ilze Indriksone, the board chair and education and science minister, led the Riga list. The Progressives (Progresīvie), social-democratic and left of centre in LSM's description, held 10 seats. Their prime-ministerial candidate, deputy Andris Šuvajevs, led in Riga; former defence minister Andris Sprūds led in Vidzeme. LSM tied Sprūds's spring exit from the Siliņa cabinet, after a drone incursion, to that government's fall. New Unity (Jaunā Vienotība), centre-right in the same account, had been the largest 2022 group, with 26 seats. Its prime-ministerial candidate was deputy Arvils Ašeradens, second in Riga; foreign minister Baiba Braže headed that list and Siliņa headed Vidzeme.

Lists below the threshold

Eight lists stayed under 5%. The Union of Greens and Farmers (Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība), agrarian and conservative in LSM's description, missed the Saeima for the first time in 24 years. It had held 16 seats in 2022 and sat in the Siliņa and Kulbergs cabinets. The Latvian Farmers' Union remained its largest member, with For Latvia and Ventspils a long-standing partner; before 2022 the Green Party left for the United List and the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party took its place. Economics minister Viktors Valainis was the prime-ministerial candidate and Riga leader.

For Stability! (Stabilitātei!), with 11 seats in 2022, named deputy Svetlana Čulkova its prime-ministerial candidate and put her first in Riga. Aleksejs Rosļikovs, elected with the party in 2022, was second; LSM reported that he was wanted and in Belarus while still standing, and called the party populist and pro-Russia. Harmony Centre (Saskaņas Centrs) was led by Jānis Urbanovičs, chair of the Social Democratic Party "Saskaņa", its prime-ministerial candidate and Riga number one, with Centre Party chair Igors Meļņikovs second. Harmony had taken 4.81% and no seats in 2022; LSM still described the list as ethnic-Russian and leftist.

The New Conservative Party (JKP Jaunā konservatīvā partija) named former state-chancellery head Jānis Citskovskis its prime-ministerial candidate and Riga leader. LSM called it conservative and noted that, after entering in 2018, it won nothing in 2022. For Latvia's Development (Latvijas attīstībai), liberal and business-oriented in that account, also held no seats. Its prime-ministerial candidate, MEP Ivars Ijabs, was not on the list; board chair Juris Pūce led in Vidzeme and school director Iveta Ratinīka in Riga. The 2022 liberal list Development/For! had finished on 4.97%.

"We Change the Rules" (Mēs mainām noteikumus) named theatre director Alvis Hermanis, first in Vidzeme, as prime-ministerial candidate; secretary-general Jāzeps Baško led in Riga. LSM called the list right-wing and anti-immigration. "Rising Sun for Latvia" (Austošā Saule Latvijai) was led by Raivis Zeltīts, its board chair, Riga number one and prime-ministerial candidate, whom LSM described as a National Alliance defector further to the nationalist, anti-globalist right. Gobzems' List (Gobzema saraksts) registered Arigo Toro — the name under which Aldis Gobzems stood — first in Riga and as prime-ministerial candidate. LSM described him as a populist who entered the Saeima in 2018 with KPV LV, was once asked to try to form a government, and lives in Spain.

Campaign

Fourteen parties and electoral groupings contested the 3 October 2026 election to the Saeima in Latvia, with no list forecast to win a majority in the 100-seat chamber. Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs’s centrist-conservative United List, then leading a four-party coalition, was ahead in the polls. He had taken office only in May, after the New Unity government of Evika Siliņa collapsed. The campaign was dominated by security—Latvia borders Russia and Belarus—and by prices, wages and public services.

Security and foreign policy

Russia’s war against Ukraine was treated as a direct threat. The cabinet crisis followed two misdirected Ukrainian drones that crashed near the Russian border, producing tensions with Moscow and reopening disputes that included use of the Russian language. LSM described the fall of Siliņa’s government as a rapid split with The Progressives after a stray Ukrainian drone, and noted that later incursions did not bring a similar round of resignations.

On 26 March the Saeima required defence funding of at least 5 percent of forecast gross domestic product from 2027, replacing a 3 percent floor; spending in 2026 was projected at 4.9 percent. The Deutsche Presse-Agentur put the outlay at just under 5 percent of GDP, with less left for other budgets, and said support for Ukraine and alignment with the European Union and NATO were unlikely to change. Al Jazeera reported that Kulbergs campaigned on more anti-drone capability and on holding defence spending at 5 percent of GDP, while rivals it called pro-Kremlin argued for ending aid to Ukraine and focusing on living costs, particularly among Russian speakers. LSM grouped the United List, the National Alliance and New Unity as consistent backers of Ukraine, and described Latvia First and Sovereign Power/New Latvians as seen as soft on Russia, while dpa said some populist lists tied price discontent to a pro-Russian appeal among part of the ethnic Russian minority.

Latvia asked NATO allies for help against aerial threats to the vote, and shortly beforehand Germany deployed four Eurofighter jets. Deutsche Welle wrote that the aircraft stood at Lielvārde, about 60 kilometres from Riga, after repeated drone incursions, and that on 15 September a drone believed to have crossed from Belarus was shot down over Lithuania. It also cited hybrid pressure, including migrant flows that Latvia and neighbouring states attributed to Belarus. On election day LSM said suspicions that Russia or Belarus might disrupt the vote had not been borne out so far. On 28 September the State Security Service said it had not found significant, systematic foreign efforts to swing the result, though Russia might step up disinformation against parties opposing its aggression and supporting Ukraine. It did not rule out provocations by Russia or Belarus, and it asked the public to report vote-buying and deepfakes; no vote-buying had been recorded. Deutsche Welle reported that about one-third of Latvia’s population speaks Russian at home, and that some Russian-speaking voters were uneasy about the phase-out of Russian-language school education and the reduced role of Russian in public life.

Economy, public services and living costs

Dpa described a population of about 1.9 million, a strained health system, emigration, ageing, high prices, low wages and a sluggish economy. AFP likewise listed rising living costs, low wages, strain on health care and long-term population decline among the main campaign themes. Deutsche Welle reported that Russia had been among Latvia’s most important trading partners before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, that imports from Russia and Belarus had since fallen by more than 90 percent, and that businesses with strong pre-war links were among the hardest hit. In the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Security Radar 2025, 60 percent of Latvians wanted reduced dependence on Russia and 20 percent favoured closer ties. Jūlija Stepaņenko argued against completely cutting economic ties with Russia and Belarus; Ainārs Šlesers said on Latvian public television that transit of goods with Russia should continue so long as it was not barred by European Union sanctions. AFP reported that Sovereign Power opposed military aid to Ukraine and further increases in defence spending, focusing instead on living costs. An April survey for Luminor Bank by Norstat, of 1,000 residents aged 18 to 74, found that 46 percent named prices as their main worry about the future, against about 30 percent who named Baltic security and 25 percent who named health care. Prices had risen 3.4 percent in the year to March, and 61 percent of respondents aged 18 to 29 cited prices. After voting, Kulbergs said a more stable course needed both a stronger economy and greater security. Parties opposed to aid for Ukraine presented domestic prices, rather than military assistance, as the priority for Russian-speaking voters.

Scandals, debates and conduct

On 12 September, Latvian Television reported, police caught welfare minister Reinis Uzulnieks—leader of the Union of Greens and Farmers list in Zemgale—driving with a blood-alcohol level of 3.5 per mille and held him at a temporary detention centre in Riga. The alliance removed him from office and expelled him from the Latvian Farmers' Union; Agriculture Minister Uldis Augulis became acting welfare minister. Kulbergs called the act a threat to life and unacceptable in a minister, and President Edgars Rinkēvičs said drink-driving by officials deserved severe punishment. Uzulnieks apologised, but the Central Election Commission said a registered list could not be withdrawn and that only a conviction for an intentional crime, unlikely before polling day, could bar him. He stayed on the ballot. LSM editor Mike Collier later argued that the scandal cost the alliance its seats.

On 1 October Diena reported that former Progressives member and Riga councillor Mārtiņš Eņģelis may have had an intimate relationship with a minor orphan who complained to the Riga Orphan’s Court; the complaint went to the State Police and the justice minister. The party said that after an earlier warning he had resigned, citing burnout, and that it had passed later allegations to police. He denied a sexual relationship. Police said an investigation was a priority but would not confirm complaints against named people; the youth group Protests said it would ask whether information had been withheld. Collier later suggested the case may have limited what the Progressives gained from New Unity’s decline.

Deutsche Welle reported that Stepaņenko had received gifts worth roughly €400,000 from her father, a Russia-based businessman whose company manufactured construction materials including anti-tank fortifications known as “dragon’s teeth”. LSM wrote that her official declarations listed two gifts totalling almost €420,000, that The Insider identified the donor as Sergei Fedotov, majority owner of Forma ZhBI in the Moscow region, and that the firm had said it produced about 2,000 such obstacles for Belgorod and occupied Donbas; Fedotov confirmed the relationship to that outlet.

Leaders of all 14 lists debated for two hours from 20:50 on 2 October on LTV1, with an LSM livestream in Latvian, before polls opened from 08:00 to 20:00 the next day.

Opinion polling and the exit poll

Pre-election polls

SKDS surveys for Latvian Television counted all respondents, including the undecided, if the Saeima election were the next day. From 13 to 19 August 2026, with at least 2,000 residents of Latvia aged 18 to 75, the United List (Apvienotais saraksts) was at 15.2%, Sovereign Power/Young Latvians 11.8%, the Progressives 8.8% and Latvia First 8.5%. From 4 to 16 September, with 2,035 citizens aged 18 and over, half interviewed at home and half online, the United List had 14.4%, Sovereign Power/Young Latvians 9.4%, Latvia First 9.2%, the Progressives 6.2%, the National Alliance 5.6% and New Unity 4.3%. The Union of Greens and Farmers was up two percentage points from 2.8% in August. Undecided respondents were 18.7% and 14.9% said they would not vote; among those who had chosen, SKDS projected seven lists over 5%.

Latvijas Fakti questioned 1,018 citizens in September. Reported on 23 September, the survey put the United List at 15.9% of all respondents, Latvia First at 8.6%, the Progressives at 8.3%, the Union of Greens and Farmers at 7.1%, the National Alliance at 6%, Sovereign Power/Young Latvians at 5.9% and New Unity at 4.2%, with 20% undecided and 12.9% not intending to vote. Among respondents with a definite choice those lists stood at 23.8%, 12.9%, 12.4%, 10.6%, 8.9%, 8.7% and 6.2%.

The Central Election Commission page, last updated at 13:58 on 4 October 2026, gave shares of valid envelopes: United List 35.292% (42 seats), Latvia First 13.090% (17), Sovereign Power/Young Latvians 11.725% (15), National Alliance 8.902% (10), Progressives 7.842% (9), New Unity 6.347% (7) and the Union of Greens and Farmers 4.407% (no seats). The United List share was above both September readings of all respondents and above Latvijas Fakti's 23.8% among people who had chosen. Latvia First's 13.090% was close to that poll's 12.9% decided figure, while the Progressives and the Union of Greens and Farmers finished below 12.4% and 10.6%.

Election-night exit poll

LETA, Latvian Public Media and Riga Stradiņš University, using SKDS methodology, released an exit poll after stations closed at 20:00 on 3 October. At 70 stations, 27 of them in Riga, interviewers were to ask about every third departing voter which list they had chosen. More than 6,500 voters were interviewed; advance and overseas voters were excluded, and 30% did not disclose a choice. LSM in Latvian reported 35.6% for the United List, 11.3% for Latvia First, 11.1% for the Progressives, 10.8% for Sovereign Power/Young Latvians, 8.7% for the National Alliance and 6.7% for New Unity. The English report gave the United List as 35% and the Union of Greens and Farmers as 3.7%. LSM noted that an exit poll is not always a reliable guide to the Saeima, because the 5% threshold changes how seats are distributed.

Next to the commission's 13:58 count, the United List figure was 35.6% (35% in English) against 35.292%, Latvia First 11.3% against 13.090%, the Progressives 11.1% against 7.842%, Sovereign Power/Young Latvians 10.8% against 11.725%, the National Alliance 8.7% against 8.902% and New Unity 6.7% against 6.347%. The Union of Greens and Farmers was under 5% in both the poll and the count.

Administration of the vote

Polling stations, early voting and election day

The Central Election Commission (Centrālā vēlēšanu komisija), chaired by Māris Zviedris, administered the election of the 15th Saeima. Its data service listed 1,059 polling-station commissions. In Latvia a voter with a passport or identity card could use any station. The commission also ran 88 stations abroad, 40 at Latvian representations; postal applications had closed on 25 September. On 3 October 2026 domestic stations were open from 08:00 to 20:00 (05:00–17:00 GMT). LSM reported that mobile polling stations were also available at 82 locations across 14 local authorities.

Advance ballots could be deposited for safekeeping from 28 September to 2 October at any of 933 stations in Latvia. Hours were 17:00–20:00 on Monday and Wednesday, 08:00–11:00 on Tuesday and Thursday, and 12:00–15:00 on Friday. A named registration envelope held the ballot until the count, and only the last vote was kept.

By the end of 1 October, 110,922 ballots had been deposited, 7.12% of 1,557,615 eligible voters. LSM reported that as at least 110,000, and said 4,907 postal applications then counted toward turnout took a broader early figure to 7.44%. On Friday afternoon LSM cited 172,965 early participants (11.1%), revised within an hour to 11.2%. The next day's activity table listed 169,605 ballots submitted for safekeeping (10.89%), of which 742 (0.05%) were marked changed.

Counting procedure and the overnight delay

Station commissions counted after closing; authorised observers, other commissions and the media could attend. They checked voters against envelopes issued, opened the boxes and tested envelopes, taking advance-vote registration envelopes first. Valid papers were sorted by list, split between ballots with "for" or "against" marks and unmarked ballots, and the candidate marks were totalled; the commission ruled on doubtful papers. Each protocol figure was counted at least twice by different members. The protocol was signed electronically, announced and sent to the municipal election commission.

The count had been expected from 22:00 but began more than two hours late, while early votes later replaced were found in the electronic register and annulled. Zviedris said more than 650 people had changed their choice; he expected preliminary results for parties entering the Saeima around 04:00. Municipal commissions objected to the wait, and an extraordinary meeting let stations open the election-day boxes while that check continued. Changed ballots, more than 700, could be added only afterwards, because a ballot removed from its named envelope could no longer be cancelled. At 13:58 on 4 October the results page still labelled its totals as data for 1,053 of 1,059 commissions.

Security and reported incidents

On 28 September the State Security Service said it had not found significant, systematic efforts by Russia or other states to swing the result. It was assessing separate disinformation and did not rule out provocations by Russia or Belarus. It told LSM it had screened 6,000 polling-station workers; risks it cited included travel to Russia or Belarus and pro-Kremlin messages. LSM reported more than 20 replacements in Daugavpils, which the local chair neither confirmed nor denied, and an 18 September order to change Krāslava's team.

By 09:00 on election day the service said reports of possible vote-buying or other illegal influence had not been confirmed. The State Police reported 20 election-related calls and four administrative cases: campaign material on public boards in Aknīste and Lestene, referred to the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau; disruption at a Daugavpils station; and damaged posters at a station in Riga. Most reports were not confirmed.

After repeated drone incursions, Defence Minister Raivis Melnis asked NATO allies for extra air cover during the election. Four Eurofighter Typhoon jets from Germany's Tactical Air Force Squadron 74 landed at Lielvārde on 24 September. The ministry said Italian and Turkish aircraft would also add cover.

Results

National vote and seats

The Central Election Commission (Centrālā vēlēšanu komisija, CVK) published a running national count for the 3 October 2026 election to the Saeima. The page was last updated at 14:13 on 4 October 2026 and included 1,053 of 1,059 polling stations. The six stations still out were all in the Riga constituency, reported at 277 of 283 stations; Vidzeme (273), Latgale (199), Kurzeme (148) and Zemgale (156) were complete. Of 1,557,615 eligible voters, 804,395 had taken part (51.64 percent). The commission recorded 803,084 valid envelopes and 792,432 valid ballot papers, 98.67 percent of those envelopes. It had not yet adopted the decision that confirms a Saeima result in law. Its elected-deputies address still returned no published list.

Percentages on the results page are shares of valid envelopes, not of valid ballot papers. A list must have at least 5 percent of valid envelopes cast in Latvia before it can receive seats. The CVK states that the number of seats is fixed separately in each electoral district, so a list with more votes in the country as a whole can receive fewer mandates than a list with fewer votes.

List	Valid ballots	Share of valid envelopes	Seats
United List (Apvienotais saraksts — Latvian Green Party, Latvian Association of Regions, Liepāja Party)	283,428	35.292%	42
Latvia First (Latvija pirmajā vietā)	105,124	13.090%	17
Sovereign Power / Alliance of Young Latvians (Suverēnā vara / Apvienība Jaunlatvieši)	94,159	11.725%	15
National Alliance (Nacionālā apvienība "Visu Latvijai!"–"Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK")	71,494	8.902%	10
The Progressives (Progresīvie)	62,980	7.842%	9
New Unity (Jaunā Vienotība)	50,974	6.347%	7
Union of Greens and Farmers (Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība)	35,392	4.407%	0
"We Change the Rules" (Mēs mainām noteikumus)	27,545	3.430%	0
For Latvia's Development (Latvijas attīstībai)	17,504	2.180%	0
For Stability! (Stabilitātei!)	16,046	1.998%	0
Rising Sun for Latvia (Austošā Saule Latvijai)	10,672	1.329%	0
Gobzems' List (Gobzema saraksts)	7,896	0.983%	0
Harmony Centre (Saskaņas Centrs)	6,595	0.821%	0
New Conservative Party (JKP Jaunā konservatīvā partija)	2,623	0.327%	0

Six lists were above 5 percent, and the preliminary seat column added to 100: the United List 42, Latvia First 17, Sovereign Power / Alliance of Young Latvians 15, the National Alliance 10, the Progressives 9 and New Unity 7. Eight lists were below the line. The nearest was the Union of Greens and Farmers, with 35,392 ballots (4.407 percent).

Comparison with 2022

The 2022 Latvian parliamentary election, on 1 October 2022, produced a different seven-list chamber. In decision No. 98 of 17 October 2022 the CVK confirmed the seats in the Fourteenth Saeima as New Unity 26, the Union of Greens and Farmers 16, the United List 15, the National Alliance 13, For Stability! 11, the Progressives 10 and Latvia First 9. That decision did not allocate seats to Suverēnā vara / Apvienība Jaunlatvieši.

On the 4 October table the United List rose by 27 seats, to 42, and Latvia First by eight, to 17; the Sovereign Power alliance was shown with 15. New Unity lost 19 seats, the National Alliance three and the Progressives one. The Union of Greens and Farmers and For Stability! were under 5 percent and were shown with no seats.

Latvian public broadcaster LSM reported that 42 seats was the most won by one list since the restoration of independence, more than the 36 won by Latvian Way (Latvijas ceļš) in 1993. The Inter-Parliamentary Union archive records Latvian Way at 32.38 percent and 36 of 100 seats in the election of 5–6 June 1993.

Preference votes and individual outcomes

On the ballot a voter may place a "For" mark (plus) or an "Against" mark (minus) next to a candidate. The CVK's candidate tables describe the personal score as the valid marks for that list, plus the candidate's "For" marks and minus the "Against" marks. At the 14:13 update those tables still left the place and elected columns blank, so they did not name the 100 deputies.

Where the station count for marks matched the list count, the arithmetic is exact. In Kurzeme the United List had 45,435 valid ballots, and the candidate page labelled its marks as coming from 148 stations, the full Kurzeme total. List number 1, Māris Kučinskis, had 9,849 "For" marks and 6,406 "Against" marks, a score of 48,878 (45,435 + 9,849 − 6,406). List number 2, Linda Matisone, had fewer positive marks but many fewer negative ones — 5,986 "For" and 2,467 "Against" — and a higher score, 48,954. The plus and minus marks had therefore put the second name on the list above the first, while neither row was marked elected.

In Riga the same columns lagged the list count. Andris Kulbergs, United List number 1, was shown with 56,374 "For" marks, 944 "Against" and a score of 135,486; Ingmārs Līdaka, number 3, with 8,561 "For", 16,607 "Against" and 72,010. Both rows were labelled as data from 270 of 1,059 stations, while the list's 83,696 Riga ballots still covered 277 of 283 stations. No candidate was marked elected, and the elected-deputies page was unpublished.

Geography of the vote

The five constituencies

The Saeima is elected in five multi-member constituencies. At 14:13 on 4 October 2026 the Central Election Commission had figures from 1,053 of 1,059 polling-station commissions. Vidzeme (273 of 273), Latgale (199 of 199), Kurzeme (148 of 148) and Zemgale (156 of 156) were complete; Rīga was still missing six of 283 stations. Valid ballots stood at 271,775 in Rīga, 233,707 in Vidzeme, 84,862 in Latgale, 94,879 in Kurzeme and 107,209 in Zemgale. The shares below are of those valid ballots. The commission calculates its own percentages against valid envelopes, and a list must take 5% of valid envelopes nationally before it receives seats in any constituency.

Apvienotais saraksts (the United List) — the Latvian Green Party, the Latvian Association of Regions and the Liepāja Party — was first in four constituencies. In Rīga, which elects 38 deputies and includes votes cast abroad, it won 83,696 ballots (30.8%) and 14 seats. Next were Suverēnā vara / Apvienība Jaunlatvieši with 44,907 (16.5%, seven seats), Latvia First (Latvija pirmajā vietā) with 37,171 (13.7%, six), The Progressives with 33,892 (12.5%, five), New Unity with 20,878 (7.7%, three) and the National Alliance with 18,224 (6.7%, three).

Vidzeme (26 seats) gave the United List 94,440 ballots (40.4%) and 13 seats, ahead of the National Alliance on 25,813 (11.0%, three seats), Latvia First on 23,243 (9.9%, three), Suverēnā vara / Apvienība Jaunlatvieši on 18,642 (8.0%, three), New Unity on 16,904 (7.2%, two) and the Progressives on 15,401 (6.6%, two). Kurzeme (11 seats) was its largest share, 45,435 ballots (47.9%) and six seats, followed by the National Alliance (8,771; 9.2%, one seat), Latvia First (8,096; 8.5%, one), Suverēnā vara / Apvienība Jaunlatvieši (5,564; 5.9%, one), the Progressives (5,404; 5.7%, one) and New Unity (4,692; 4.9%, one). Zemgale (13 seats) had the same first four: the United List 43,525 (40.6%, six seats), the National Alliance 12,854 (12.0%, two), Latvia First 11,440 (10.7%, two) and Suverēnā vara / Apvienība Jaunlatvieši 10,093 (9.4%, one), then New Unity (5,885; 5.5%, one) and the Progressives (5,535; 5.2%, one).

Latgale (12 seats) was the exception. Latvia First led with 25,174 ballots (29.7%) and five seats; the United List was second on 16,332 (19.2%, three) and Suverēnā vara / Apvienība Jaunlatvieši third on 14,953 (17.6%, three), and the National Alliance took the remaining seat with 5,832 (6.9%). The Union of Greens and Farmers (5,786; 6.8%) and Stabilitātei! (5,515; 6.5%) were above 5% of Latgale ballots but won no seats there.

Local exceptions

LSM reported that the United List was first everywhere on its map of counted votes except in six districts in the far south-east. On the commission's Latgale table those six were led by Latvia First: Daugavpils (9,797 ballots, 40.1%, with Suverēnā vara / Apvienība Jaunlatvieši second at 23.8%), Rēzekne (37.8%), Augšdaugavas novads (31.9%), Krāslavas novads (28.5%), Ludzas novads (25.4%) and Rēzeknes novads (26.1%, to 24.5% for the United List). The United List remained first in Balvu, Līvānu and Preiļu municipalities. Elsewhere its share was 57.1% in Dienvidkurzemes novads and 49.8% in Liepāja, but 33.8% in Ventspils, where the Union of Greens and Farmers was second, and 27.5% in Jūrmala.

Votes abroad are published under Rīga as Ārvalstis: 20,067 valid ballots at 120 commissions, beside 251,708 in the city of Rīga. The United List led both, with 29.3% abroad and 30.9% in the city. The Progressives were second abroad on 24.4%, with New Unity on 13.6%; in the city Suverēnā vara / Apvienība Jaunlatvieši was second on 17.3%, Latvia First third on 14.2% and the Progressives fourth on 11.5%. New Unity's Kurzeme seat came from 4.9% of valid ballots there, while the Union of Greens and Farmers' 6.8% in Kurzeme produced none, because the threshold is national.

Turnout

Historical comparison

The Central Election Commission activity register, complete for all 1,059 polling-station commissions and updated at 14:05 on 4 October 2026, recorded 807,072 participants out of 1,557,615 eligible citizens (51.81%) in the Saeima election in Latvia on 3 October. The Saeima's series since the restoration of independence runs from 89.9% in 1993 through 71.9% in 1995 and 1998, 71.51% in 2002, 60.98% in 2006, 63.12% in 2010, 59.45% in the early election of 17 September 2011 and 58.85% in 2014, to 54.6% (844,925 voters) in 2018—the previous low, which the commission's archive also records—and 59.41% (916,368) in 2022. From an incomplete count of about 804,180 voters (51.6%), Latvian Public Media (LSM) called 2026 the lowest Saeima turnout since independence, against 54.6% in 2018 and about 59% in 2022. A results file still missing six Rīga stations (1,053 of 1,059) at 14:13 on 4 October listed 804,395 voters and 803,084 valid envelopes.

Early voting and regional differences

Early voting produced 169,605 ballots submitted for safekeeping (10.89% of the electorate, at 933 stations); 742 (0.05%) were changed on election day, and each person is counted once. On 3 October, 620,031 people voted at a polling station (39.81%), 14,445 at their location (0.93%) and 3,733 by mobile ballot box (0.24%). In 2022 the archive recorded 63,342 ballots in safekeeping, 4.11% of 1,542,407 eligible citizens. LSM said 172,965 people (11.1%) had voted by 15:30 on 2 October, later 11.2%, against 4.11% in 2022, when fewer stations offered early voting, and that beating 59.41% would not be surprising; on election night it said hopes of exceeding about 59%, after more than 11% had voted early, were not met.

Completed activity was 236,783 of 400,969 eligible voters in Vidzeme (59.05%), 96,250 of 174,176 in Kurzeme (55.26%), 108,676 of 199,469 in Zemgale (54.48%), 86,685 of 183,759 in Latgale (47.17%) and 278,678 of 599,242 in the Rīga constituency (46.51%). That Rīga total joins the city, where 255,051 of 399,790 participated (63.80%), and voters abroad, 23,627 of 199,452 (11.85%). Postal voters are counted as those sent materials who did not vote in person or leave a ballot in safekeeping. In Vidzeme, Mārupe Municipality was at 67.41% (17,156 of 25,450).

On Latvian Television, Providus director Sanda Liepiņa said a last-week claim that the election was decisive needed more than a week to spread. Andis Kudors said no conspicuous populist offer drew habitual non-voters, and SKDS director Arnis Kaktiņš said many who wanted change saw "more or less the same swamp" rather than a contest of "light against darkness."

Aftermath

Coalition arithmetic

At 14:13 on 4 October 2026 the Central Election Commission was still publishing a running count, with returns from 1,053 of 1,059 polling stations. On that preliminary table the United List (Apvienotais saraksts — the Latvian Green Party, the Latvian Association of Regions and the Liepāja Party) had 42 seats, Latvia First 17, Sovereign Power / Alliance of Young Latvians (Suverēnā vara / Apvienība Jaunlatvieši) 15, the National Alliance 10, the Progressives 9 and New Unity 7. After the remaining stations and postal ballots were counted, dpa reported that the United List had won 41 of 100 seats, the best result for any party since Latvia regained independence in 1991, and that six parties had entered the Saeima. Combined with the National Alliance’s 10 seats and New Unity’s 7, that would be 58 seats, or 51 with the National Alliance alone. Dpa wrote that of Kulbergs’s three previous coalition partners two had secured seats, and that he needed at least one partner to form a majority government. No coalition agreement had been announced. Latvian Public Media (LSM) called a United List–National Alliance–New Unity cabinet the most likely outcome and a solid working majority, and wrote that Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs might instead govern with the National Alliance alone or add another party, though neither step was required. LSM expected the other three lists over 5 percent — Latvia First, the alliance it called Sovereign Power/New Latvians, and the Progressives — to sit in opposition.

How a government is formed

Under the Satversme, the Cabinet is composed of the prime minister and ministers chosen by the prime minister, and it is formed by the person the president invites. The prime minister and ministers must have the confidence of the Saeima; a sitting requires at least half the members, and decisions are taken by an absolute majority of the votes of those present unless the constitution sets another rule. LSM described the practice that follows the invitation: the parties sign a coalition agreement, a government declaration and an action plan and divide the portfolios, then the Saeima votes, and if the motion passes the government is in office. It said the president usually allows about a week, that the person invited would clearly be Kulbergs, and that talks could be shorter than usual because a new coalition would likely resemble the outgoing one without the Union of Greens and Farmers, which the preliminary count left below 5 percent and without seats. The chancery of President Edgars Rinkēvičs said that from 5 October his schedule was expected to include meetings with the parties and alliances which, on those preliminary results, would enter the 15th Saeima, with times and media access still to be confirmed. On 5 October, two days after the election, Rinkēvičs began those talks. He first met representatives of the United List, led by Kulbergs, on Monday morning, then received leaders of the other parties at Riga Castle.

Reactions and the next political calendar

On Latvian Television, responding to the SKDS exit poll on the evening of 3 October, Kulbergs said: “This shows people want change, that people want straight talking.” After meeting Rinkēvičs on 5 October, Kulbergs described the result as a historic moment and said a large part of society had expressed its support for change. He named restoring public finances, improving security and economic growth, and increasing the efficiency of public administration as the United List’s priorities. Early on 4 October, still speaking from survey figures he said would differ from the real result, Ainārs Šlesers, Latvia First’s candidate for prime minister, told the same broadcaster that the United List had obviously won and that his party was heading for a better result than in 2022. He offered Kulbergs cooperation, saying it was time to lift the country out of the swamp, that the government should be staffed with professionals, and that his party — which he called the bearer of the strongest economic programme — was ready to sit at the negotiating table if needed.

The Saeima is elected for four years, on the first Saturday in October, and holds its first sitting on the first Tuesday in November, when the previous Saeima’s mandate expires. The 2026 election was on Saturday 3 October, so that sitting falls on 3 November 2026, and the chamber then sits until the first sitting after the October 2030 election. LSM wrote that a later collapse of the government would not itself mean another election: the parties would negotiate a new administration. LSM named the presidential election in June 2027 as the next large date on the calendar. The Saeima elects the president for four years, by open ballot, with the votes of at least 51 members. LSM wrote that Rinkēvičs, completing a first term, was widely assumed to want a second, but that the United List’s seat share raised a question about that second term: in 2023 he had defeated the list’s founder, Uldis Pīlēns, and LSM said the new chamber, with New Unity down from the largest group to the smallest, would seem to give Pīlēns an opening in 2027 if he still wanted the presidency.