After a year – on Saturday, 5 June 2021 – regular local government elections will be held in Latvia, in which municipal councillors will be elected for the next four-year term.
In local elections voters may vote in the municipality where their place of residence was declared 90 days before the elections or in the municipality where they own real estate registered in accordance with the procedures specified by law. The 90-day deadline before the elections will be 7 March 2021, which will be the reference point for the inclusion of voters in the Voter list of the municipality.
Citizens of Latvia and other member states of the European Union, who have reached the age of 18 and are registered in the Population Register and the Electoral Register of Latvia, have the right to participate in the municipal elections
In preparation for the municipal elections of 2021, a number of amendments to election laws have been submitted to the Saeima and are currently under consideration. Amendments to the City Council and Municipality Council Election Law and amendments to the Electoral Register Law, which are to be adopted by the Saeima in the third reading, foresee the introduction of an online voter register in polling stations, thereby ensuring the possibility for voters to vote in any polling station of their municipality, as well as changes in the working hours of polling stations. Other amendments to the City Council and Municipality Council Election Law, submitted to the Saeima, provide for voters staying abroad during the local elections to ensure the possibility to participate in the elections by postal voting.
On the other hand, due to the administrative territorial reform in the country, unlike previous elections, there will be a significantly lower number of local governments and elected councillors. The administrative territorial reform, which currently is under the Saeima’s consideration in the third and final reading, means that there will be 42 municipalities in Latvia instead of the previous 119, while the total number of municipal councillors will be reduced almost by half.
Depending on whether the parliament will support the possibility of voting by post from abroad in municipal elections, the submission of candidate lists for the next year's municipal elections could take place either in March or in April. The pre-election campaign period will start on 6 February.
05.06.2020
CEC Information Department
Tel. +371 67814900