The Demokrāti.lv, known as the New Democrats ( lv, Jaunie Demokrāti, JD) prior to 2009, was a left-wing and " Euro-realist" political party in

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. It was formed in 2004 when two members of the Latvian parliament,

Māris Gulbis Māris Gulbis (born October 4, 1985) is a Latvian professional basketball player who currently plays for the VEF Rīga. He is 2.00 m (6 ft 6.75 in) and can play small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three or swingman, i ...

and Ināra Ostrovska broke away from the New Era Party. The New Democrats were aligned with the pan-European

EUDemocrats Europeans United for Democracy – Alliance for a Europe of Democracies, formerly known as ''EUDemocrats'', was a Eurosceptic and self-described Eurorealist alliance of parties and movements from 15 European countries. It operated as a transna ...

organisation.

History

The party was formed in 2004, when two MPs, Māris Gulbis and Ināra Ostrovska, left the New Era Party Parliamentary Club, founding a political party called “New Democrats” (“Jaunie Demokrāti”) on 11 June 2005. In 2005, the party was one of the founders of the left-wing Eurosceptic and Eurorealist" European political party

. The party tried to foster ties with regionalist parties such as the For Latvia and Ventspils, sending an invitation to the leader of the party mayor

Aivars Lembergs Aivars Lembergs (born September 26, 1953) is a Latvian politician, oligarch, and convicted money launderer who was the mayor of Ventspils from 1988 to 2021, a mandate from which he has been suspended since 2008. In February 2021, Lembergs was fo ...

. The New Democrats won 1.27% of vote and no seats in the parliament in 2006 election. After the election, they started talks with For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK about a possible merger, which were unsuccessful. On 28 March 2009, the party held a party congress where it changed its name to Demokrāti.lv and adopted a new logo. After the 2009 rebrand, the party participated in the

2009 Latvian municipal elections 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra a ...

, gaining few seats. Before the

2010 Latvian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Latvia on 2 October 2010. It was the first parliamentary election to be held in Latvia since the beginning of the economic crisis during which Latvia had experienced one of the deepest recessions in the world. ...

the party was one of the founders of the Made in Latvia political alliance, but shortly afterwards was expelled from it. On March 10, 2011, the party announced that it had dissolved. Its last chairman was Edgars Jansons.

Ideology

The party was considered left-wing and anti-globalization. It portrayed itself as anti-elitist and Eurosceptic, and argued that the Latvian membership in the EU led to unaccountable governments, exacerbated poverty and arbitrary decision. Its program stated: "Eurosceptics offer you the opportunity to put an end to irresponsibility, poverty and the arbitrariness of Brussels and its minions. First, we will make those in power accountable to the people by reforming the Constitution and the electoral system. (...) The people of Latvia must regain the right to initiate referendums on EU issues, which was taken away from the people in a joint vote in May 2003 by the Euro-right parties." Demokrāti.lv stated that the government of Latvia failed to address the "real causes of the country's underdevelopment" and promised a governance where "the state and politics should not be used to increase the wealth of a limited number of individuals" should it be elected. The party was heavily sceptical of the European Union, and was a part and co-founder of the EUDemocrats. The party was also regionalist and stressed the importance of local governments, and tried to cooperate with fellow regionalist parties of Latvia.

Election results

Saeima

External links

Official web site
2004 establishments in Latvia Political parties established in 2004 Political parties in Latvia Defunct political parties in Latvia Left-wing parties in Europe Political parties disestablished in 2011

References

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