Latvian government loses majority in parliament over handling of Ukraine drone incidents

By Janis Laizans and Andrius Sytas

RIGA, May 13 (Reuters) – Latvia’s Prime Minister Evika Silina was left without a ruling majority in the parliament on Wednesday after the left-wing Progressives party said it was withdrawing its support.

The decision follows the firing at the weekend of Progressives’ Defence Minister Andris Spruds over the handling of incidents involving stray Ukrainian drones flying into Latvia from Russia.

“The current prime minister does not have nine votes from the Progressives,” the party’s parliamentary leader Andris Suvajevs told media after meeting Silina on Wednesday.

“Therefore we call on President Edgars Rinkevics to begin political consultations on the formation of a new government right now,” he added.

Silina can either resign or wait for parliament to vote her out, said Suvajevs.

The prime minister wrote on X that she was speaking to her centre-right New Unity party and the other coalition party, the Greens and Farmers Union, regarding their next steps.

Rinkevics will meet with all parliamentary factions on Friday, the national broadcaster LSM said.

The opposition party United List said on Wednesday that it would initiate a vote of no confidence in Silina in parliament and would be ready to lead the next government, the BNS news wire reported.

(Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius and Janis Laizans in Riga; Editing by Hugh Lawson)