Politics Government formation in Latvia on the home straight
Around two weeks after the resignation of Prime Minister Evika Silina, the search for a new government in the Baltic EU and NATO country is coming to an end in Latvia. Talks on forming a government have resulted in an agreement and division of responsibilities between four partners, said the designated new head of government Andris Kulbergs in Riga after a meeting with President Edgars Rinkevics.
25.05.2026, 11:12
SDA
The opposition politician from the centrist-conservative electoral alliance United List wants to form a center-right government from four parties that have already reached a coalition agreement. Each of them is to be given several ministerial posts in the cabinet, but the appointments have not yet been decided - they are to be announced on Tuesday. The four-party alliance has 66 of the 101 seats in parliament.
According to Kulberg, one of the future government's priorities will be national security. The 46-year-old politician, who was nominated as head of government by Rinkevics nine days ago, still has to submit his cabinet and government program to a vote in parliament in Riga. According to Rinkevics, the vote could be held this week.
Government crisis due to drone incidents
Silina resigned on May 14 after one of her two alliance partners - the left-wing Progressives - withdrew their confidence in her. The political crisis was triggered by the resignation of Defense Minister Andris Sprud. The Progressive politician had resigned under pressure from Silina after two misguided Ukrainian drones crashed near the Russian border. The government crisis hit Latvia just a few months before the parliamentary elections at the beginning of October.
Latvia borders Russia and Belarus to the east. There have already been several incidents involving drones in the Baltic state in the course of the war in Ukraine. In recent Ukrainian attacks, misguided unmanned aerial vehicles have repeatedly entered Latvian airspace and crashed in some cases. Kiev had used them to attack targets in north-western Russia. Moscow partly blames Latvia.
Threats from Moscow
Russia's foreign intelligence service SWR recently accused Latvia of launching Ukrainian drones from Latvian territory without providing any evidence and openly threatened the EU and NATO member state with retaliation. The government in Riga rejected the statements as blatant lies and condemned the threats. The EU and NATO also expressed their support.
