The Demokrāti.lv, known as the New Democrats (, JD) prior to 2009, was a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

and " Euro-realist"

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area'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, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. It was formed in 2004 when two members of the Latvian parliament, Māris Gulbis and Ināra Ostrovska broke away from the

New Era Party The New Era Party (, JL) was a centre-right political party in Latvia. Founded in 2002, the party merged with Civic Union and Society for Other Politics to form Unity in 2011. New Era was a member of the European People's Party (EPP), and ...

. The New Democrats were aligned with the pan-European EUDemocrats organisation.

History

The party was formed in 2004, when two MPs, Māris Gulbis and Ināra Ostrovska, left the

Parliamentary Club, founding a political party called “New Democrats” (“Jaunie Demokrāti”) on 11 June 2005. In 2005, the party was one of the founders of the left-wing Eurosceptic and Eurorealist"

European political party A European political party, formerly known as a political party at European levelArticle 10.4 of the 2007 Treaty on European Union states that "political parties at European level contribute to forming European political awareness" and Regul ...

EUDemocrats. The party tried to foster ties with regionalist parties such as the

For Latvia and Ventspils For Latvia and Ventspils (, LuV) is a regionalist political party in Latvia that mainly operates as a localist party in Ventspils. It is mostly known for its chairman, Aivars Lembergs, who has been mayor of Ventspils between 1988 until his arre ...

, sending an invitation to the leader of the party mayor

Aivars Lembergs Aivars Lembergs (born 26 September 1953) is a Latvian politician, oligarch, and convicted money launderer who was the mayor of Ventspils from 1988 to 2021, a mandate from which he has been suspended since 2008. In February 2021, Lembergs was fou ...

. The New Democrats won 1.27% of vote and no seats in the parliament in 2006 election. After the election, they started talks with

For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK (, abbreviated to TB/LNNK) was a free-market, national conservative political party in Latvia. In 2011, it dissolved and merged into the National Alliance (Latvia), National Alliance. The party was founded from sm ...

about a possible merger, which were unsuccessful. On 28 March 2009, the party held a party congress where it changed its name to Demokrāti.lv and adopted a new logo. After the 2009 rebrand, the party participated in the 2009 Latvian municipal elections, gaining few seats. Before the

2010 Latvian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Latvia on 2 October 2010. It was the first parliamentary election to be held in Latvia since the beginning of the 2008 Latvian financial crisis during which Latvia had experienced one of the deepest recessio ...

the party was one of the founders of the Made in Latvia political alliance, but shortly afterwards was expelled from it. On March 10, 2011, the party announced that it had dissolved. Its last chairman was Edgars Jansons.

Ideology

The party was considered left-wing and anti-globalization. It portrayed itself as anti-elitist and Eurosceptic, and argued that the Latvian membership in the EU led to unaccountable governments, exacerbated poverty and arbitrary decision. Its program stated: "Eurosceptics offer you the opportunity to put an end to irresponsibility, poverty and the arbitrariness of Brussels and its minions. First, we will make those in power accountable to the people by reforming the Constitution and the electoral system. (...) The people of Latvia must regain the right to initiate referendums on EU issues, which was taken away from the people in a joint vote in May 2003 by the Euro-right parties." Demokrāti.lv stated that the government of Latvia failed to address the "real causes of the country's underdevelopment" and promised a governance where "the state and politics should not be used to increase the wealth of a limited number of individuals" should it be elected. The party was heavily sceptical of the European Union, and was a part and co-founder of the EUDemocrats. The party was also regionalist and stressed the importance of local governments, and tried to cooperate with fellow regionalist parties of Latvia.

Election results

Saeima

External links

Official web site
2004 establishments in Latvia Political parties established in 2004 Political parties in Latvia Defunct political parties in Latvia Left-wing parties in Europe Political parties disestablished in 2011

References

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