The People's Party (, TP) was a

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

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 ...

. 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 m ...

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 1995 to 1997, and again from 1999 to 2000. Early life Šķēle graduated from the Latvian Agri ...

, 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 p ...

(

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 Latvia ...

became prime minister. At the

legislative A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers ...

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

, 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 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 serv ...

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 democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...

(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, 2011, the Senate of the

Supreme Court of Latvia The Supreme Court of the Republic of Latvia () 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 administrative matters. Its oversight is determi ...

refused People’s Party appeal against the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau'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 in ...

by the Riga City Central District Court.

Election results

Legislative elections

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