Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs on Saturday tasked opposition politician Andris Kulbergs with forming a new government, two days after Prime Minister Evika Siliņa resigned.
The 46-year-old Kulbergs, a member of the centre-right United List — the strongest opposition force in parliament — has been given until May 25 to assemble a viable coalition.
Rinkēvičs said after talks with all six parties represented in parliament that recent developments made it appropriate for an opposition figure to lead the next government.
Kulbergs thanked the president for his confidence and said five parties had expressed willingness to cooperate.
“I hope we can form a broad coalition,” said the former head of Latvia’s automobile association, who has served in parliament since 2022. The United List holds 13 of the 100 seats in the legislature in Riga.
Siliņa submitted her resignation on Thursday after one of her two coalition partners, the left-leaning Progressives, withdrew their support. Under Latvia’s constitution, this automatically triggers the resignation of the entire Cabinet, which remains in office in a caretaker capacity until a new government is confirmed in the EU country.
The political crisis comes just months before parliamentary elections scheduled for early October.
The immediate trigger was the resignation of defence minister Andris Sprūds. The Progressives politician stepped down under pressure from Siliņa after two suspected Russia-bound Ukrainian drones crashed in Latvian territory. Siliņa had accused him of failures in air defence and sought to replace him with a military officer.
The incidents come amid heightened tensions due to the war in Ukraine, with drones from both Russia and Ukraine having previously entered Latvian airspace.
