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

. The People's Party was the leader of three governments 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 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), winning 16.7% of the vote and 20 seats. In 2004, People's Party member Aigars Kalvītis became prime minister. At the legislative elections, 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 of the Latvian Way party, and then until spring of 2010 under Valdis Dombrovskis 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 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