The People's Party ( lv, Tautas partija, TP) was a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

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 ...

. The People's Party was the leader of three

governments A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

and a member of another four.

History

Tautas partija was founded in 1998 by

Andris Šķēle Andris Šķēle (born 16 January 1958) is a Latvian former politician and business oligarch. He served two terms as Prime Minister of Latvia from 21 December 1995 to 7 August 1997, and from 16 July 1999 to 5 May 2000. Early life Šķēle gra ...

, a businessman and former prime minister, who was the chairman of the party until 2002. Because of Šķēle's powerful personality, many voters identified the party with its leader during this period. In 2002, Šķēle exited politics and

Atis Slakteris Atis Slakteris (born 21 November 1956, Code parish) is a former Minister of Defence of Latvia, and Minister of Finance from December 2007 to March 2009. Controversy In late 2008, Slakteris gave an interview with Bloomberg about Latvia's econom ...

became the chairman of Tautas partija. At the October 2002 elections the party became the third largest in 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 ...

(

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

), winning 16.7% of the vote and 20 seats. In 2004, People's Party member

Aigars Kalvītis Aigars Kalvītis (born 27 June 1966) is a Latvian businessman and a former politician who was the Prime Minister of Latvia from 2004 to 2007. Currently he is the president of Latvian Ice Hockey Federation and the Chairman of the Board of Latvian ...

became prime minister. At the

legislative A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known as p ...

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

, on 7 October 2006, the party won 19.49% of the popular vote and 23 out of 100 seats in the Saeima, becoming the largest party in parliament and maintaining its status as leader of the coalition government, with Kalvītis as prime minister. The post of the Prime Minister was lost in 2007, but the party retained its place in the coalition under

Ivars Godmanis Ivars Godmanis (born 27 November 1951) is a Latvian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Latvia from 1990 to 1993 and again from 2007 to 2009. He was the first Prime Minister of Latvia after the country restored its independence from t ...

of the Latvian Way party, and then until spring of 2010 under

Valdis Dombrovskis Valdis Dombrovskis (born 5 August 1971) is a Latvian politician serving as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for An Economy that Works for People since 2019 and European Commissioner for Trade since 2020. He previously serve ...

of the New Era Party. However at the 2010 elections, the first after the Latvian economic crisis, the party lost most of its support, winning just 4 seats in the elections. Tautas partija was a member of the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...

(EPP). On July 9, 2011, 248 out of 308 party congress delegates voted to disband the People's Party. According to some political analysts, it was done in order to avoid repaying a Ls1.03 million campaign donation it received and spent illegally in 2006, but party chairman

denied that. On September 22, 2016, the Senate of the

Supreme Court of Latvia The Supreme Court of the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republikas Augstākā tiesa) or the Senate of Latvia (''Latvijas Senāts'') is the highest level court in the three-tiered court system of Latvia. It deals with criminal, civil and admini ...

refused People’s Party appeal against the

Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB; lv, Korupcijas novēršanas un apkarošanas birojs) is a specialised anti-corruption authority of Latvia. Its aim is to fight corruption in Latvia in a coordinated and comprehensive way throu ...

's decision to make it pay back 1.03 million lats, however on December 16, 2011, the People's Party was declared

insolvent In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company (debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet inso ...

by the Riga City Central District Court.

References

Conservative parties in Latvia Defunct political parties in Latvia 1998 establishments in Latvia Political parties established in 1998 Political parties disestablished in 2011 {{Latvia-party-stub