VILNIUS, Oct 6 (Reuters) – Latvia’s president on Tuesday said he will nominate Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs to lead the next government following an historic election win on Saturday.
• Kulbergs’ pro-Ukraine United List won 35.3% of the votes, the biggest parliamentary election victory since Latvian independence in 1991, but still needs one or two coalition partners to form a majority cabinet
• United List and Kulbergs have broad support from other parties to start forming a government, President Edgars Rinkevics said
• The new parliament will meet on November 3
• Kulbergs came to power in May after the previous coalition crumbled over its handling of incidents in which stray Ukrainian military drones flew undetected into Latvia
• Latvia’s economy has underperformed its Baltic neighbours for more than a decade and Kulbergs has vowed to improve governance, cut red tape and reduce public spending
• Although pro-Russian parties increased their representation in parliament, they remain sidelined and are unlikely to influence government policy, analysts have said
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius, writing by Terje Solsvik)
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