Julija Stepanenko (russian: Юлия Степаненко, Julija Stepanenko, lv, Jūlija Stepaņenko; born Julija Fedotova on 1 September 1977) 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 ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

, serving as a

deputy Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spai ...

of the

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 parliament of Latvia. Formerly a member of

Honor to serve Riga Honor to serve Riga! ( lv, Gods kalpot Rīgai!, GKR) is a municipal political party located in Riga, Latvia. It was created on March 17, 2012 and is led by Andris Ameriks, the former deputy mayor of Riga. In 2013 the party entered an electo ...

and

Law and Order In modern politics, law and order is the approach focusing on harsher enforcement and penalties as ways to reduce crime. Penalties for perpetrators of disorder may include longer terms of imprisonment, mandatory sentencing, three-strikes laws a ...

, she is now a member of

Latvia First Latvia First ( lv, Latvija pirmajā vietā, LPV) is a right-wing populist political party in Latvia. It was founded in August 2021 by businessman and former member of parliament, former Minister of Transport, former vice-mayor of Riga, Ainārs ...

, having left Law and Order in June 2021.

Political activity

Stepanenko firstly was elected to Saeima In 2014. She served on the Saeima European Affairs Committee. Stepanenko received more than 12 000 pluses and more than 90 000 votes at the

2018 Latvian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Latvia on 6 October 2018. Following the elections, a coalition government was formed by Who owns the state?, the New Conservative Party, Development/For!, the National Alliance and New Unity. Despite being fr ...

and became one of the most supported representatives of the 13th Saeima. On the first day of the sitting of the 13th Saeima Stepanenko announced she would be leaving the

Harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

parliamentary fraction and working as an independent deputy, however, she stated that she would continue to work with the party in matters that do not conflict with her own values. Stepanenko started serving in the Legal, European Affairs and Sustainable Development committees. In January 2021 she co-founded the right-wing populist

party and was chosen to co-lead the party alongside fellow MP

Aldis Gobzems Aldis Gobzems (born October 10, 1978) is a Latvian politician and lawyer. He first rose to prominence as a lawyer who represented victims of the 2013 Zolitūde shopping centre roof collapse, and was the prime ministerial candidate for the Who Own ...

until she left the party on 30 June 2021, criticising Gobzems' offensive style of communication. In August 2021 she was among the co-founders of the

party, being chosen as the party's board chair as well as their candidate for President of Latvia. From 15 November 2021, Julija Stepanenko was one of the four Saeima deputies to be barred from parliament sittings by a special law prohibiting elected representatives without a

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

certificate to take part in the discussion both in-person and remotely. She believed that this decision of the parliamentary majority is deeply undemocratic and shows that under the banner of fighting against COVID-19 things have gone thoroughly astray.

References

External links

Stepanenko's personal website
1977 births Living people Politicians from Riga 21st-century Latvian women politicians Honor to serve Riga politicians Deputies of the 12th Saeima Deputies of the 13th Saeima Women deputies of the Saeima Latvian people of Russian descent Latvia First politicians {{Latvia-politician-stub