Saeima

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Saeima

Type
Type	Unicameral
Leadership
Speaker	Solvita Āboltiņa, Unity Since 2010
Structure
Seats	100

Political groups	Harmony Centre (31) Unity (20) Reform Party (16) National Alliance (14) Union of Greens and Farmers (13) Non-attached (6)
Elections
Voting system	Open list proportional representation with a 5% election threshold
Last election	17 September 2011
Meeting place

House of the Livonian noble corporation, Riga
Website
www.saeima.lv

Deputies are elected from five constituencies, based on the cultural regions of Latvia.

Latvia

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The Saeima (IPA: [sæimaː]) is the parliament of the Republic of Latvia. It is a unicameral parliament consisting of 100 members who are elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated to political parties which gain at least 5% of the popular vote. Elections are scheduled to be held once every four years, normally on the first Saturday of October. The most recent elections were held in September 2011.

The President of Latvia can dismiss the Saeima and request early elections. The procedure for dismissing it involves substantial political risk to the president, including a risk of loss of office. On May 28, 2011, president Valdis Zatlers decided to initiate the dissolution of the current Saeima, which was to be decided in a referendum. The Saeima was dissolved on 23 July 2011.^[1]

The current Speaker of the Saeima is Solvita Āboltiņa.

The word "Saeima" meaning "a gathering, a meeting, a council" was constructed by the Young Latvian Juris Alunāns. It stems from the archaic Latvian word eima meaning "to go" (derived from the PIE *ei "to go" and also a cognate with the Ancient Greek eimi, Gaulish eimu among others) ^[2]

Deputies are elected to represent one of five constituencies: Kurzeme (13 deputies), Latgale (15), Riga (30), Vidzeme (27), and Zemgale (15). Seats are distributed in each constituency by open list proportional representation among the parties that overcome a 5% national election threshold.

1 Results
2 Members (since 1990)
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

Results

e • d **Summary of the 17 September 2011 Latvian **Saeima** election results**
	Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats	±
	Harmony Centre	259,930	28.36%	+1.75%	31	+2
	Zatlers' Reform Party	190,853	20.82%	New	22	New
	Unity	172,567	18.83%	−13.07%	20	−13
	National Alliance	127,208	13.88%	+6.05%	14	+6
	Union of Greens and Farmers	111,955	12.22%	–7.90%	13	–9
	Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way	22,131	2.41%	–5.40%	0	–8
	For Human Rights in United Latvia	7,109	0.78%	–0.69%	0	±0
	Last Party (Pēdējā partija)	4,471	0.49%	–0.41%	0	±0
	For a Presidential Republic (Par prezidentālu republiku)	2,881	0.31%	–0.44%	0	±0
	People's Control (Tautas kontrole)	2,573	0.28%	–0.14%	0	±0
	Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party	2,531	0.28%	–0.37%	0	±0
	Freedom. Free from Fear, Hate and Anger (Brīvība. Brīvs no bailēm, naida un dusmām)	2,011	0.22%	New	0	New
	Christian Democratic Union	1,994	0.22%	–0.15%	0	±0
	Invalid	1,211
Total		917,680	100%		100
Turnout: 59.49% Source: Central Election Commission of Latvia

Members (since 1990)

List of members of the parliament of Latvia, 1990–1993
List of members of the parliament of Latvia, 1993–1995
List of members of the parliament of Latvia, 1995–1998
List of members of the parliament of Latvia, 1998–2002
List of members of the parliament of Latvia, 2002–2006
List of members of the parliament of Latvia, 2006–2010
List of members of the parliament of Latvia, 2010–2011
List of members of the parliament of Latvia, 2011–present

References

^ "Zatlers nolemj rosināt Saeimas atlaišanu [Zatlers decides to initiate thedissolution of the Saeima]" (in Latvian). Delfi. May 28, 2011. http://www.delfi.lv/news/national/politics/zatlers-nolemj-atlaist-saeimu.d?id=38755691. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
^ Zuicena, Ieva; Migla, Ilga (2008). "Jura Alunāna devums latviešu leksikogrāfijā" (in Latvian) (PDF). LU Raksti 731: 75. ISSN 1407-2157. http://www.lu.lv/materiali/apgads/raksti/731.pdf#page=75. Retrieved 2010-05-27.

External links

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