2011 Latvian parliamentary election

2011 Latvian parliamentary election

← 2010 17 September 2011 2014 →

Party Leader % Seats +/– Harmony Centre Jānis Urbanovičs 28.62 31 +2 Reform Valdis Zatlers 21.01 22 New Unity Valdis Dombrovskis 19.00 20 −13 NA Raivis Dzintars 14.01 14 +6 ZZS Raimonds Vējonis 12.33 13 −9 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Results by electoral district Prime Minister before Prime Minister after Valdis Dombrovskis Unity Valdis Dombrovskis Unity

Early parliamentary elections were held in Latvia on 17 September 2011,^[1] following the country's first parliamentary dissolution referendum held on 23 July 2011. The previous parliamentary election was only held in October 2010.

The elections resulted in Harmony Centre winning the most seats, up two to 31. This was the first time a pro-Russian party had won the most seats in a Latvian election. Unity, previously the largest party, fell to third, with 20 seats, behind the newly formed Zatlers' Reform Party, led by ex-President Valdis Zatlers, who had triggered the dissolution referendum in May. The right-wing National Alliance gained six seats to 14. Both the Union of Greens and Farmers and Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way lost heavily, with the latter falling out of the Saeima altogether.

Zatlers and incumbent Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis soon agreed to form a coalition. Needing nine further seats to give them a majority allowed three possible coalitions – with Harmony Centre, the National Alliance, or the Union of Greens and Farmers. The Greens and Farmers were quickly ruled out by Zatlers, who judged it to be an "oligarch's party". After initial talks with the National Alliance, the two briefly discussed a grand coalition with Harmony Centre. However, Zatlers and Unity returned to the National Alliance, and the three signed a coalition agreement on 11 October, with Dombrovskis as Prime Minister. The new government was confirmed by the Saeima on 25 October. A few days before the government formation, six MPs split from Zatlers' Reform Party; they still supported the new government, however.^[2]