Ingrīda Latimira, formerly Ingrīda Ūdre, (born 14 November 1958) is a

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 ...

n politician who belongs to the

Latvian Farmers' Union The Latvian Farmers' Union ( lv, Latvijas Zemnieku savienība, LZS) is an agrarian political party in Latvia. Initially formed in 1917 during the period of Latvian War of Independence, it was banned in 1934. It was re-established in 1990. It is ...

political party. Ūdre is a former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who worked as an accountant after the end of her basketball career. She was first elected to

Saeima The Saeima () is the parliament of the Latvia, 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 po ...

, the

Latvian parliament The Saeima () 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 v ...

, in 1998, from the list of the New Party. She was the presidential candidate of the New Party in 1999. In 2002, after the New Party ceased to exist, Ūdre joined the

and became the leader of the newly founded

Union of Greens and Farmers The Union of Greens and Farmers ( lv, Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība, ZZS) is an agrarian political alliance in Latvia. It is made up of the Latvian Farmers' Union, Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party, and For Latvia and Ventspils. It is pos ...

. After the 2002 parliamentary election, she became

Speaker of the Saeima The Speaker of the Saeima ( lv, Saeimas priekšsēdētājs; literal translation, lit. "Chairperson of the Saeima") is the speaker (politics), presiding officer of the Parliament of Latvia, the Saeima. If the President of Latvia resigns from offi ...

. She served in this position until the 2006 election. In 2004, Ūdre was nominated as Latvia's candidate for

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

. Her nomination caused a major controversy. Ūdre was a replacement for Latvia's previous commissioner

Sandra Kalniete Sandra Kalniete (born 22 December 1952) is a politics of Latvia, Latvian politician, author, diplomat and independence movement leader. She served as Foreign Minister of Latvia 2002–2004 and as European Commissioner for Agriculture & Rural Devel ...

. Ūdre was also criticised, by ''Delna'' (the Latvian chapter of

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...

) and other anti-corruption

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

s, for campaign finance violations committed by the Union of Farmers and Greens, although her personal involvement in those violations was never proven. In October 2004, Latvia withdrew Ūdre's candidacy, nominating

Andris Piebalgs Andris Piebalgs (born 17 September 1957) is a Latvian politician and diplomat who served as European Commissioner for Development at the European Commission from 2010 until 2014. Between 2004 and 2009 he served as Commissioner for Energy. Betwee ...

instead of her. In 2006, Ūdre failed to win reelection to Saeima. Her party, the Union of Farmers and Greens increased its number of seats in the parliament from 12 to 18. Ūdre, however, received a large number of personal "against" votes (Latvian election system allows voters to cast "for" and "against" votes for individual candidates of the party they support) and was not reelected because of that. This appears to be the only case in Latvian history when a political party has increased its representation but its leader was not reelected to the parliament.

References

1958 births Living people Politicians from Riga New Party (Latvia) politicians Latvian Farmers' Union politicians Ministers of Economics of Latvia Speakers of the Saeima Deputies of the 7th Saeima Deputies of the 8th Saeima Candidates for President of Latvia Women deputies of the Saeima 21st-century Latvian women politicians Women legislative speakers Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 1st Class {{latvia-politician-stub