The Reform Party (), formerly known as Zatlers' Reform Party (, ZRP) until April 2012, was a

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

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 ...

founded by former

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 ...

Valdis Zatlers on 23 July 2011. It won 22 seats 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 ...

in the 2011 election.

History

On 9 July 2011, Zatlers announced that he would found the party on 23 July 2011; the same day as the country's first parliamentary dissolution referendum. The party was founded on 23 July and Zatlers was elected its chairman by 251 votes to 2. Zatlers announced that the party would not cooperate with the three 'oligarch' parties – the

Union of Greens and Farmers The Union of Greens and Farmers (, ZZS) is an agrarian political alliance in Latvia. It is made up of the Latvian Farmers' Union, Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party, and For Latvia and Ventspils. It is positioned in the centre on the ...

, Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way, and the People's Party. A survey suggested that 33% of voters would support the new party, and as of July 2011, 17.5% would vote for them, while 52% were certain that the party would receive seats in the Saeima. By September 2011, over 1000 people had applied to join the party.Apollo – Ziņas: Zatlera Reformu partijā pieteikušies vairāk nekā 1000 cilvēku
. Apollo.lv. Retrieved 19 September 2011. the core of the party was formed by 15–20 members. The party drafted 10 working principles, and invited discussion on these principles from anyone who applied for membership. At the 2011 parliamentary election, the party won 22 seats, making it the second-largest party, behind the Harmony Centre alliance. It agreed to form a coalition with Unity, and after negotiations, the National Alliance, with

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 ...

to continue 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 ...

and Zatlers to be

Speaker of the Saeima The Speaker of the Saeima (; literal translation, lit. "Chairperson of the Saeima") is the speaker (politics), presiding officer of the Parliament of Latvia, the Saeima. If the President of Latvia resigns from office, dies or is removed from off ...

. On 17 October 2011, Zatlers failed to be elected Speaker as had been agreed, and Unity's Solvita Āboltiņa was re-elected instead. Six ZRP MPs – Klāvs Olšteins, Elīna Siliņa, Gunārs Rusiņš, Jānis Upenieks,

Viktors Valainis Viktors Valainis (born 9 August 1986) is a Latvian politician of the Latvian Farmers' Union serving as Minister of Economics since 2023. From 2011 to 2023, he was a member of the Saeima The Saeima () is the parliament of the Latvia, Repub ...

, and Jānis Junkurs – left the party to become non-attached members. In April 2012 the party dropped references to its founder from its name and became known simply as the ''Reform Party''. For the 2014 general election, the Reform Party announced an electoral pact with its government coalition partner Unity. In March 2015 the party began the formal process of disbanding and most of its core base was absorbed by Unity. The liquidation process concluded in April 2020.

History

Election results

Parliament (''Saeima'')

References

External links