Latvia’s ruling three-party coalition has collapsed less than five months before parliamentary elections.
The centre-left Progressives party said on Wednesday it would no longer work with Prime Minister Evika Siliņa, following the resignation of defence minister Andris Sprūds.
The government now only has the support of Siliņa’s centre-right New Unity party and the Union of Greens and Farmers. As a result, it no longer has a parliamentary majority.
“The current prime minister does not have the nine votes of the Progressives,” party leader Andris Šuvajevs said after a meeting with Siliņa in Riga.
He also called on President Edgars Rinkēvičs to begin consultations on forming a new government, although the Progressives will not immediately withdraw their ministers, he added.
The coalition crisis follows a dispute among government partners over the resignation of Sprūds, a member of the Progressives, who stepped down on Sunday after recent drone incidents in the airspace of Latvia, which borders Russia and Belarus, under pressure from Siliņa.
Siliņa has proposed appointing military colonel Raivis Melnis as the new defence minister, rather than a representative from her coalition partner.
Siliņa had previously said that a caretaker government could take over if the party left the coalition.
Latvia is due to hold parliamentary elections on October 3.
