The first Krišjānis Kariņš' cabinet ( Latvian: ''Kariņa 1. ministru kabinets'') was the 40th

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

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 ...

, sworn in on 23 January 2019 after

Krišjānis Kariņš Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš (; born 13 December 1964) is a Latvian American politician who served as the prime minister of Latvia from 2019 until 2023. A linguist and businessman by profession, he previously served as Latvia's minister of Economic ...

was proposed as

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Raimonds Vējonis Raimonds Vējonis (born 15 June 1966) is a Latvian politician who served as the 9th President of Latvia from 2015 to 2019 and the president of the Latvian Basketball Association since 2020. He is a member of the Latvian Green Party, part of the ...

and elected by 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 p ...

and working until 14 December 2022, when Saeima passed a motion of confidence in the

Second Kariņš' cabinet The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

. The government was supported by a

coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

of The Conservatives, the

Development/For! Development/For! ( Latvian: ''Attīstībai/Par!,'' AP!) was a liberal political alliance A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicia ...

, the

National Alliance National Alliance may refer to: Electoral alliances *National Alliance (Egypt) (2015) * National Alliance (Ireland) (2024 onwards) * National Alliance (Pakistan) (2002-2004) *Nation Alliance (Turkey) (2018-2023) Political parties and organizations ...

, the

For a Humane Latvia For a Humane Latvia (, PCL), previously known as Who Owns the State? (''Kam pieder valsts?, KPV''), is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist list of political parties in Latvia, political party in Latvia. Since 2022, it has been a member of t ...

, and the

Unity Unity is the state of being as one (either literally or figuratively). It may also refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpoo ...

as was predecessor of Opposition government from Union of Green and Farmers Māris Kučinskis. In accordance with the

Constitution of Latvia The Constitution of Latvia (, ) is the fundamental law of the Latvia, Republic of Latvia. The Satversme is the oldest Central and Eastern Europe, Eastern or Central European constitution still in force and the sixth oldest still-functioning repu ...

, the Cabinet of Ministers, after the first session of the

14th Saeima The Fourteenth Saeima of Latvia () was elected in the 2022 Latvian parliamentary election held on 1 October 2022. Election The 100 members of the Saeima are elected by open list proportional representation from five multi-member constituen ...

, has resigned and continued as a

caretaker government A caretaker government, also known as a caretaker regime, is a temporary ''ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it co ...

until a new government was formed. The cabinet is so far the longest-serving cabinet in the history of democratic Latvia, serving 1421 day and surpassing the previous record of 1077 days set by the

Kučinskis cabinet The Kučinskis cabinet was the government of Latvia from 11 February 2016 to 23 January 2019. The stated objectives of the cabinet were to develop the economy, state security, education and health reform, the living standards of families, and soci ...

, and the only one in democratic Latvian history to serve a full term of the Saeima.

Composition

The cabinet consisted of Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš and thirteen Ministers. The composition of the Kariņš cabinet was as follows:

History

Parking space scandal

In November 2020, Minister for Environmental Protection and Regional Development

Juris Pūce Juris Pūce (born 22 January 1980, in Riga) is a Latvian economist, lawyer, and politician. Former Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of Latvia in the government of Krisjanis Karins and chairman of the board of the ...

was involved in scandal, that is infamously called the "Parking space scandal", that lead to his resignation from the post of Minister. The unusual scandal emerged after Riga City Councilor Māris Mičerevskis, a former party colleague of Pūce's accused him of using a parking spot he was no longer entitled to during an interview on LTV's 'One on One' show. The next day, Pūce denied trying to get a free municipal parking pass in Riga, claiming that correspondence with Mičerevskis on the subject was just a joke. However Prime Minister

failed to see the sunny side of this and said he expected the

Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB; ) is a specialised anti-corruption authority of Latvia. Its aim is to fight corruption in Latvia in a coordinated and comprehensive way through prevention, investigation and education. KNAB was ...

(KNAB) to get involved this case. Māris Mičerevskis left the coalition in the Council of Riga claiming it was corrupt. On 12 November 2020

resigned, and after fierce talks between

and Kariņš,

Artūrs Toms Plešs Artūrs Toms Plešs (born 4 January 1992) is a Latvian politician. he serves as Minister for Environmental Protection and Regional Development in the cabinet of Prime Minister Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš. References Living people 199 ...

was elected as Minister for Environmental Protection and Regional Development. He was the first minister to be born after the full restoration of Latvian independence in 1991.

Health Ministers scandal

Journalists and members of the public were left stunned as they coped with two simultaneous press briefings on 5 January 2021 following rumors in the morning that Viņķele would be dismissed over dissatisfaction with her vaccination plan. In one briefing,

Ilze Viņķele Ilze Viņķele (born Ilze Vidiņa on 27 November 1971 in Rēzekne) is a Latvian politician, and the former Minister for Welfare and Minister for Health of Latvia. Currently, she is a member of the political party Movement For!, formerly a part of ...

outlined the Health Ministry's vaccination plans, while at exactly the same time Prime Minister Kariņš was announcing that he had lost confidence in his minister, due to the delay in presenting the vaccination plan she was presenting. He admitted not having read the plan himself, even as it was being presented in the parallel press conference. However, getting rid of Viņķele, whose own press conference seemed an attempt to show that a plan was indeed ready and had the backing of health professionals, Viņķele herself signalled she would comply with the request to resign, while claiming that the vaccination plan that had been prepared was even more detailed than those adopted by Estonia and Germany. She was dismissed on 7 January 2021. Although Vice-Prime Minister refused to take on Minister's position it was continued by

Artis Pabriks Artis Pabriks (born 22 March 1966) is a Latvian politician. Since January 2019 he has been the Minister for Defence and Deputy Prime Minister of Latvia. From 2014 to 2018, he was a Member of the European Parliament. Early life and career After c ...

for one day. On 8 January 2021

Daniels Pavļuts Daniels Pavļuts (born 14 May 1976 in Jūrmala, Latvia) is a Latvian politician and former Minister for Health of Latvia from January 2021 to December 2022. He was formerly the Ministry of Economics (Latvia), Minister for Economics of Latvia, a po ...

was chosen by

as the new Minister of Health. He was approved by

by 61 votes out of 100.

Reshuffle

On 21 June 2021, New Unity, the New Conservatives, Development/For!, and the National Alliance signed a new memorandum on the objectives of their mutual cooperation. KPV LV was excluded from newly arranged coalition. This new coalition had 48 members, what meant that government officially became minority one.

Opinion polling

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kariņš 2019 establishments in Latvia 2022 disestablishments in Latvia Cabinets established in 2019 Cabinets disestablished in 2022 Cabinets of Latvia