1.
Unicameralism
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In government, unicameralism is the practice of having one legislative or parliamentary chamber. Thus, a parliament or unicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of one chamber or house. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multicameralism, many multicameral legislatures were created to give separate voices to different sectors of society. Multiple chambers allowed for guaranteed representation of different social classes, ethnic or regional interests, where these factors are unimportant, in unitary states with limited regional autonomy, unicameralism often prevails. Unicameral legislatures are also common in official Communist states such as the Peoples Republic of China, similarly, many formerly Communist states, such as Ukraine, Moldova and Serbia, have retained their unicameral legislatures, though others, such as Romania and Poland, adopted bicameral legislatures. Both the former Russian SFSR and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were bicameral, the two chambers were the Soviet of Nationalities and the Soviet of the Union. The Russian Federation retained bicameralism after the dissolution of the USSR, the principal advantage of a unicameral system is more efficient lawmaking, as the legislative process is much simpler and there is no possibility of deadlock. Proponents of unicameralism have also argued that it costs, even if the number of legislators stay the same, since there are fewer institutions to maintain. There is also the risk that important sectors of society may not be adequately represented, approximately half of the worlds sovereign states are currently unicameral, including both the most populous and the least populous. Many subnational entities have unicameral legislatures, and all of the Brazilian states. In the United Kingdom, the devolved Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales, Congress of Deputies of Second Spanish Republic was unicameral between 1931 and 1936. Dissolved at the end of Spanish Civil War, the actual Spanish Parliament is bicameral, Supreme Assembly of Uzbekistan was unicameral before being replaced in 2005 by the current, bicameral Supreme Assembly. National Assembly of Cameroon was unicameral before being replaced in 2013 by the current, chamber of Peoples Representative of Equatorial Guinea was unicameral before being replaced in 2013 by the current, bicameral Parliament of Equatorial Guinea. National Assembly of Kenya was the unicameral legislature before becoming the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Kenya in 2013. National Assembly of Ivory Coast was the unicameral legislature before becoming the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Ivory Coast in 2016. Nebraskas state legislature is also unique in the sense that it is the state legislature that is entirely nonpartisan. In 1999, Governor Jesse Ventura proposed converting the Minnesota Legislature into a unicameral chamber. Although debated, the idea was never adopted, if those constitutional changes had been approved, Puerto Rico could have switched to a unicameral legislature as early as 2015
2.
Occupation of the Baltic states
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On 22 June 1941 Nazi Germany attacked the USSR and within weeks occupied the Baltic territories. In July 1941, the Baltic territory was incorporated into the Reichskommissariat Ostland of the Third Reich, the Soviet annexation occupation of the Baltic states lasted until August 1991, when the Baltic states regained independence. In its reassessment of Soviet history that began during perestroika in 1989, however, Russia agreed to Europes demand to assist persons deported from the occupied Baltic states upon joining the Council of Europe. De facto independence was restored to the Baltic states in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia started to withdraw its troops from the Baltics in August 1993. The full withdrawal of troops deployed by Moscow was completed in August 1994, Russia officially ended its military presence in the Baltics in August 1998 by decommissioning the Skrunda-1 radar station in Latvia. The dismantled installations were repatriated to Russia and the returned to Latvian control. Early in the morning of August 24,1939, the Soviet Union and Germany signed a ten-year non-aggression pact, the pact contained a secret protocol by which the states of Northern and Eastern Europe were divided into German and Soviet spheres of influence. In the north, Finland, Estonia and Latvia were assigned to the Soviet sphere, Poland was to be partitioned in the event of its political rearrangement—the areas east of the Narev, Vistula and San Rivers going to the Soviet Union while Germany would occupy the west. According to this protocol, Lithuania would regain its historical capital Vilnius. Following the end of Soviet invasion of Poland on 6 October, the Soviets pressured Finland, the Soviets questioned the neutrality of Estonia after the escape of an interned Polish submarine on 18 September. A week later on 24 September, the Estonian foreign minister was given an ultimatum in Moscow, the Soviets demanded the conclusion of a treaty of mutual assistance to establish military bases in Estonia. The Estonians had no choice but to accept naval, air, the corresponding agreement was signed on 28 September 1939. Latvia followed on 5 October 1939 and Lithuania shortly thereafter, on 10 October 1939, in September and October 1939, the Soviet government compelled the Baltic states to conclude mutual assistance pacts which gave it the right to establish Soviet military bases. In May 1940, the Soviets turned to the idea of military intervention. Their model was the Finnish Democratic Republic, a puppet regime set up by the Soviets on the first day of the Winter War, the Soviets organised a press campaign against the allegedly pro-Allied sympathies of the Baltic governments. In May 1940, the Germans invaded France, which was overrun, in late May and early June 1940, the Baltic states were accused of military collaboration against the Soviet Union by holding meetings the previous winter. On 15 June 1940, the Lithuanian government had no choice but to agree to the Soviet ultimatum, president Antanas Smetona proposed armed resistance to the Soviets but the government refused, proposing their own candidate to lead the regime. However, the Soviets refused this offer and sent Vladimir Dekanozov to take charge of affairs while the Red Army occupied the state, on 16 June 1940, Latvia and Estonia also received ultimata
3.
National Alliance (Latvia)
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The National Alliance, officially the National Alliance All For Latvia. – For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK, abbreviated to NA, is a political party in Latvia. With seventeen seats in the Saeima, the National Alliance is the fourth-largest party in the parliament, the party is a coalition of conservatives, Latvian ethnonationalists, and economic liberals. Formed as an alliance for the 2010 election, the National Alliance brought together For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK. It won eight seats, placing it fourth amongst all parties and it merged into a single political party in July 2011 under the leadership of Gaidis Bērziņš and Raivis Dzintars. The Party has participated in government of Latvia since the 2011 parliamentary election to avoid Harmony Center from entering leading coalition. It is a member of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe and its one MEP, Roberts Zīle, sits in the European Conservatives and it was founded as an electoral alliance in 2010 by national-conservative For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK and far right All For Latvia. After the two parties were refused entry into the Unity alliance, the loose alliance was transformed into a unitary party on 23 July 2011. In the 2010 election to the Saeima, the alliance won 8 seats, in May 2011, the party supported the re-election of Valdis Zatlers as President of Latvia in the 2011 election. The alliance became a united party on 23 July 2011. At the 2011 parliamentary election, the National Alliance won fourteen seats – an increase of six on the previous year – making it the fourth-largest party, on 23 August 2013, All for Latvia. Wing of National Alliance signed the Declaration of Bauska together with Conservative Peoples Party of Estonia, the declaration calls for a new national awakening of the Baltic states and warns about threats posed by international globalism, multiculturalism and Russian imperial ambitions. The merging period of the two founding parties was ended on the National Alliances third congress on 7 December 2013, finally creating one unitary party. The Party was the one of the leading coalition partners. The Party took part in organizing the massive rally in Rīga. This anti-immigration position was accented in the annual foreign affair debates in Saeima, also turning against liberal immigration policy, conservatism portal Auers, Daunis, Kasekamp, Andres. Comparing Radical-Right Populism in Estonia and Latvia, right-Wing Populism in Europe, Politics and Discourse
4.
Unity (Latvian political party)
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Unity registered as Latvian, Partija VIENOTĪBA Party UNITY is a liberal-conservative political party in Latvia. It is currently the largest party of the centre-right in Latvian politics and was the party in the Dombrovskis. Unity is a member of the European Peoples Party and it remains the largest parliamentary party in the Kučinskis cabinet. The party was founded as an alliance of the New Era Party, Civic Union. On 6 August 2011 the alliance was transformed into a political party. Its president is Andris Piebalgs, former European Commissioner, the current Prime Minister is from the Union of Greens and Farmers, but Unity and ZZS each hold 5 ministerial portfolios in the 2016-2018 government. For the 2014 general election, Unity announced a pact with the Reform Party
5.
Union of Greens and Farmers
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Union of Greens and Farmers is a green and agrarian political alliance in Latvia. It consists of two parties, the Latvian Farmers Union and the Latvian Green Party. It is the third largest bloc in the Saeima, the Union of Greens and Farmers also cooperates closely with two regional parties, For Latvia and Ventspils and the Liepāja Party. Although the ZZS encompasses green politics, usually considered centre-left in the context of Western and Central Europe, while the alliances formal leader is Armands Krauze, its leading figure and chief financial supporter is the oligarch Aivars Lembergs. In 2015 the then leader Raimonds Vējonis became President of Latvia, the alliance was established before the 2002 parliamentary election. It ran on an ideologically amorphous agenda and won 12 out of 100 seats in the parliament, in March 2004, Indulis Emsis from the LZP became the Prime Minister of Latvia until December of that year. On a European level, the LZP cooperates with the European Green Party while the LZS has no formal affiliation. Before the 2004 European Parliament election, ZZS announced that if its representative was elected, the alliance continued for the 2006 parliamentary election, and won 18 seats. It became part of the coalition, and LZP chairman Indulis Emsis. On 14 March 2007, Lembergs was detained by the Latvian authorities in relation to a criminal investigation, at the 2014 European Parliament election, the ZZS won 8. 3% of the vote and for the first time one of Latvias European Parliament seats. Its MEP is Iveta Grigule who initially sat with the Europe of Freedom, on 16 October 2014 Grigule defected from the EFDD to sit as an independent. This move required EFDD to co-opt a member of Polands Congress of the New Right to remain eligible for parliamentary group status, in April 2015 she joined the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group. The alliance of greens and farmers is based on similar sentimental feelings shared by the voters of the two gropus, for example, after the restoration of independence Latvia broke down Soviet-era collective farms and returned land to its original owners. This perception has resulted in an alliance between green and farmers parties, which is rare in other countries, the alliance is eurosceptic, although not opposed to Latvian membership of the European Union. The ZZS opposed the adoption of the euro by Latvia, the party opposes granting non-citizens Latvian citizenship or voting rights in local elections. Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union Union of Greens and Farmers Official Website
6.
Social Democratic Party "Harmony"
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The Social Democratic Party Harmony, also commonly referred to as Harmony, is a social-democratic political party in Latvia. It is the major party of the centre-left in Latvian politics. The party was founded in 2010 as the merger of the National Harmony Party with New Centre and the Social Democratic Party, at that time, all three were members of the former electoral alliance Harmony Centre. The alliance also included the communist Socialist Party of Latvia, the Daugavpils City Party merged into the party in 2011. The chairman of the party, Nils Ušakovs is the current Mayor of Riga and was the Harmony candidate for the office of Prime Minister of Latvia in 2014. In the Saeima the party has 24 out of 100 seats after polling 23% of the vote at the 2014 parliamentary election and its parliamentary group is therefore the largest among the six groups in the Latvian Parliament, and the leading opposition group. Internationally, Harmony is a member of the Progressive Alliance and has status in the Party of European Socialists. Its sole MEP, Andrejs Mamikins, sits in the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament. Harmony is currently the party on the Riga City Council in coalition with Proud to serve Riga. Harmony is the largest party seeking to represent the Russian-speaking population of Latvia
7.
Latvian Association of Regions
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The Latvian Association of Regions is a centrist political alliance in Latvia. It was founded on 13 March 2014 and is headed by Mārtiņš Bondars and it won 8 seats in the Saeima at the 2014 parliamentary election. The LRA is an alliance of several smaller and regionalist parties including the Regional Alliance, the LSDSP, the Christian Democratic Union
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