In the last few months, Latvia’s media widely speculated who will become the next president of Latvia.
Of course, this speculation predicates on the question who’s running, which in itself is an enigma.
President Vaira Vike-Freiberga’s term expires this summer and the Constitution limited her tenure to two consecutive terms.
The Parliament is scheduled to vote for the President on June 6.
So far, we’ve written only about Sandra Kalniete, an official candidate from Jaunais Laiks party. While we believe Kalniete has qualities that would make her presidential, we don’t think she will become the next President. To understand this, we have to go back to 1999, the year when Vike-Freiberga was first elected as the President.
A relative unknown in Latvia at the time, Vike-Freiberga just renounced her Canadian citizenship in order to become the President as the Constitution doesn’t allow the President to hold dual citizenship. She didn’t belong to any party and in a way became a political compromise. She raised the bar for the position of the President so much so that in her re-election four years ago, she ran unopposed, a move some thought was reminiscent of the Soviet days.
Jaunais Laiks came in the third in the last election and gaining 18 seats in the Saeima. For one reason or another, JL found itself in the opposition to the ruling coalition. And it’s unlikely the four parties in the coalition will support JL’s candidate for the president.
Two of the main players in the government coalition right now, Tautas Partija (TP) and Latvijas Pirma Partija/Latvijas Cels (LPP/LC) have yet to announce their candidates. This is perhaps why the presidential elections that are just around the corner are a black horse race. Most of the politicking is taking place behind the scenes.
This is why the presidential elections in Latvia resembled this caricature from V-Diena:
This, of course, hasn’t prevented anyone from speculating.
Regardless, this is what the list of potential candidates looks like:
1. 
Sandra Kalniete – worked in Latvia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, served as Latvia’s ambassador to the UN (from 1993 to 1997), France (from 1997 to 2000) and UNESCO (from 2000 to 2002). She became Foreign Minister of Latvia in November 2002 and served in this position until being nominated as Latvia’s EU Commissioner in 2004. She is officially nominated by Jaunais Laiks party.
2. 
Ojars Kalnins – born in Munich, Germany, lived in Chicago until 1984. Served as Latvia’s Ambassador to the US from 1993 to 1999, now is the head of the Latvian Institute. One of the founders of Latvian Transatlantic Organization, whose goal is to promote Latvia’s membership in NATO. Officially, Kalnins has not been nominated.
3. Over the weekend, rumors flew that Interior Minister and Latvia’s first Prime Minister following the country’s independence, Ivars Godmanis may be a candidate for presidency. Yet, Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis told Diena that he didn’t think former prime ministers should run for the highest public office in the land. Perhaps, the benevolent dictatorship of Karlis Ulmanis of the 1930s still leaves a bad taste in politicians’ mouths. Godmanis himself speaking this morning said he sees his future in the internal affairs more than in the Riga Castle.
Updated April 27, 2007: People’s Party nominated the chief of staff for the office of Prime Minister Maris Riektins, a graduate of a University of Latvia department of Law, a former ambassador to the U.S., who had been working in the office of Aigars Kalvitis since December 2006.
