RIGA – Latvians will have a chance to reassume power in their country.
Starting Wednesday, any citizen can sign a petition to amend the Constitution to grant voters a right to dissolve the parliament through a referendum.
Under current legislation, that right is reserved to the president and has never been used in the country’s history since 1918.
Launched by the Latvian trade unions, the petition drive will continue until April 10, aiming to collect a bit more than 149,000 signatures. That’s how many are required to initiate a legislation in the Saeima.
However, Latvia is a long way away from the adoption of the proposed changes.
If the month-long process succeeds, the draft legislation will go to the Saeima. If the parliament rejects it in the untainted form, the legislation will go to a referendum, requiring an approval of the half registered voters in the country of 2.3 million.
In recent months, Latvians have grown weary of their government amidst corruption scandals and political cynicism. They protested twice last fall against the government of Aigars Kalvitis – the self-proclaimed guarantor of stability – who was forced to resign as the prime minister last December.
Politicians demeaned those who gave them a mandate to serve in the first place less than a year after the 2006 October elections. Last summer, MP Janis Lagzdins showed people what he thought of them immediately following the presidential elections in May. He later apologized.
The ruling clique, as local media often described the ruling coalition leaders plus a minigarch, met at a Riga Zoo to select the current president Valdis Zatlers underscoring the cynicism of the political elite toward democratic process.
Answering uncomfortable and direct questions, Kalvitis had resorted to a single phrase, “That is your interpritation.”
The prime minister had changed, but the ruling coalition basically remained the same.
As some people pointed out, the signature drive will put additional pressure on Latvian President trying to walking the tight rope between the parliament and the people.
Some also expressed fear that giving people the right to dissolve parliament will stall the political process in the country. However they probably know that the most efficient form of government in any country is the dictatorship. Democracies tend to be slow as it takes time to muster up a compromise among all parties. We’ve already had a dictatorship six years before the war and 50 years after the World War II. We don’t want to go back to that.
In the last 17 years, politicians stole public funds with impunity for their own benefit, or at least appear to do so in the public eye. It’s time to take back the power to the people. Which is why I’m going to sign the petition.