Latvian Way
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Latvian Way ( lv, Latvijas Ceļš) was a conservative-liberal political party in Latvia. It merged with
Latvia's First Party The Latvia's First Party ( lv, Latvijas Pirmā Partija) was a socially conservative, Christian-democratic right-wing political party in Latvia. It merged with Latvian Way to form Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way in 2007. It was founded on 25 M ...
to form the
Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way ( lv, Latvijas Pirmā partija/Latvijas Ceļš, LPP/LC) was a political party in Latvia created from the merger of the Christian-democratic Latvia's First Party (LPP), the liberal Latvian Way (LC) and the regional ...
(LPP/LC) in 2007. It described itself as "a liberal party defending people's freedom to shape their own lives". Latvian Way was a member of
Liberal International Liberal International (LI) is a worldwide organization of liberal political parties - a political international. It was founded in Oxford in 1947 and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal parties, aiming to strengthen liberalism around ...
and the
European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
.


History

Latvian Way was founded on 25 September 1993, by a group of former activists of
Popular Front of Latvia The Popular Front of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Tautas fronte) was a political organisation in Latvia in the late 1980s and early 1990s which led Latvia to its independence from the Soviet Union. It was similar to the Popular Front of Estonia and the ...
and Latvian exiles who had returned to Latvia after it regained independence. In its first election in 1993, Latvian Way won 32.4% of popular vote and became the leading party in a coalition government. Later, its popularity declined, with 14.6% of votes in 1995 election and 18.0% in 1998. Despite that, Latvian Way remained a powerful force in Latvian politics and was part of every coalition government in Latvia from July 1993 to November 2002. Four Latvian Way members were
Prime Ministers A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
:
Valdis Birkavs Valdis Birkavs (born July 28, 1942) is a Latvian politician. He was born in Riga. Birkavs attended the University of Latvia, where he studied philosophy, sociology, law, psychology and mathematical logic. He was first elected to the Latvian pa ...
(from 1993 to 1994),
Māris Gailis Māris Gailis (born 9 July 1951) is a Latvian businessman and former politician. He is the former Prime Minister of Latvia, an office he held from September 1994 to December 1995. In the government of the Prime Minister Valdis Birkavs, Gailis b ...
(from 1994 to 1995),
Vilis Krištopans Vilis Krištopans (born 13 June 1954 in Omsk Oblast, Russian SFSR) is a Latvian politician. He was the Prime Minister of Latvia from 26 November 1998 to 15 July 1999. As a prime minister he was a member of the Latvian Way political party. ...
(from 1998 to 1999) and Andris Bērziņš (from 2000 to 2002). A fifth former Prime Minister, Ivars Godmanis, joined the Latvian Way party after his term as Prime Minister ended. In the 2002 general election, it got 4.9% of the vote, just under the 5% needed to secure representation in parliament. After this loss, several politicians left Latvian Way for other parties. Latvian Way regained some ground in the
European Parliament Election Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Until ...
in June 2004 with 6.5% of vote but it still faced an uncertain future and the difficult task of regaining voters' trust. For the 2006 election, Latvian Way formed an electoral coalition with the
Latvia's First Party The Latvia's First Party ( lv, Latvijas Pirmā Partija) was a socially conservative, Christian-democratic right-wing political party in Latvia. It merged with Latvian Way to form Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way in 2007. It was founded on 25 M ...
. They won 10 seats in the election, allowing Latvian Way to join the coalition government. Party chairman
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 ...
became Minister of the Interior in November 2006, and then Prime Minister in December 2007. He resigned after protests paralysed the Latvian capital,
Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...
, due to the global economic crisis. On 20 February 2009, Godmanis resigned as Prime Minister along with the rest of his government amid concerns about handling the economic crisis.


Electoral results


See also

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Liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
*
Contributions to liberal theory Contribution or Contribute may refer to: * ''Contribution'' (album), by Mica Paris (1990) ** "Contribution" (song), title song from the album *Contribution (law), an agreement between defendants in a suit to apportion liability *Contributions, a ...
*
Liberalism worldwide This article gives information on liberalism worldwide. It is an overview of parties that adhere to some form of liberalism and is therefore a list of liberal parties around the world. Introduction The definition of liberal party is highly deba ...
*
List of liberal parties This article gives information on liberalism worldwide. It is an overview of parties that adhere to some form of liberalism and is therefore a list of liberal parties around the world. Introduction The definition of liberal party is highly deba ...
*
Liberal democracy Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into diff ...
*
Liberalism in Latvia This article gives an overview of liberalism in Latvia. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in the Saeima. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in that scheme. For inclusion in t ...


References


External links

* {{interlib Conservative parties in Latvia Defunct liberal political parties Conservative liberal parties Defunct political parties in Latvia Liberal parties in Latvia 1993 establishments in Latvia 2007 disestablishments in Latvia