The election of local government councils of 5 June will take place in 6 cities and 35 municipalities. At the same time, elections in the Riga city will not take place this year because the City Council was elected in an emergency election last year and will continue to work until the elections of 2025.
Submission of lists of candidates
The submission of lists of candidates takes place between 17 March and 6 April. The lists of candidates must be submitted to the local government election commissions of 41 electoral districts.
Registered political parties, registered associations of political parties, as well as two or more registered political parties, which have not joined in a registered association, may submit lists of candidates in local government elections.
The right to stand as candidates at local government elections shall be for citizens of Latvia and other Member States of the European Union who have reached at least 18 years of age on the election day and are registered in the Latvian electoral register and who are not subject to the restrictions on candidacy specified in the Law.
In order to stand as a candidate in the Local government elections of 2021, on the day of the submission of the candidate list the candidate should be registered at a place of residence in the administrative territory of the relevant local government without interruption at least since 26 June 2020, or has been working in the administrative territory of the relevant local government as an employee or as a self-employed person at least since 26 December 2020. It will also be possible to stand as a candidate in that constituency where the candidate owns immovable property registered in accordance with the procedures specified by law.
A total of 683 councillors must be elected to local government councils in the local government elections of 5 June. The number of candidates in a candidate list may exceed by three candidates the number of councillors to be elected.
A security deposit for the list of candidates at local elections shall be EUR 15 for each councillor to be elected to the relevant council. For example, if 15 members are to be elected in a local government council, the security deposit to be paid for each list of candidates will be EUR 15 x 15 or EUR 225. The security deposit will be repaid if the list of candidates gains at least one seat in the election. The security deposits of remaining lists shall be included in the local government budget.
Unlike the previous local government elections, the number of a candidate list will be printed in the ballot paper, which will be determined by the draw.
The list of candidates and the documents to be attached thereto shall be drawn up using the application of the Central Election Commission. Candidate lists registered by the local government election commission will be available on the site https://pv2021.cvk.lv
Voting procedures
In local government elections, voters will be able to vote at any polling station in their electoral district. For the first time, an electronic online voter register will be used to register voters in polling stations.
The polling stations on the local government election day, 5 June, will be open between 7:00 and 20:00. Voters will also be able to vote early:
- on Monday, 31 May, from 16:00 to 20:00;
- on Thursday, 3 June, from 9:00 to 16:00;
- on Friday, 4 June, from 13:00 to 20:00.
This year, for the first time, citizens eligible to vote in local government elections, which are staying abroad during elections, will be able to apply for postal voting. Voters need to apply for postal voting in advance - from 27 March to 24 April. It will be possible to submit the relevant application on the public administration services portal www.latvija.lv, using the e-service of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, at the embassies of the Republic of Latvia, the Central Election Commission or via the official electronic address.
If a voter is not able to attend the polling station due to health reasons, it will be possible to apply for a vote at the voter’s location.
Clearing and changing the constituency
The right to participate in local government elections elections have citizens of Latvia other member states of the European Union from the age of 18 who have been registered their place of residence in the administrative territory of the relevant local government (except Riga) at least 90 days before the election day (on March 7 of this year) or who own immovable property in the relevant local government.
Voters will be able to find out their electoral districts and polling stations of the district starting 27 March using the e-service of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs or calling the Central Election Commission hotline.
From 27 March to 27 May, voters online or in person will also be able to change the electoral district if they want to vote in the electoral district where they own immovable property.
Pre-election campaign
The pre-election campaign period runs from the 120th day (6 February) up to Election Day. The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau, the National Electronic Mass Media Council, the State Police or the Local Government Police, depending on the nature of the campaign, shall perform supervision of pre-election campaign. The chairperson of the polling station commission shall be responsible for preventing the campaign in polling stations and 50 metres from the polling station.
Useful facts
The number of councillors to be elected in local government councils shall be determined according to the number of inhabitants registered in local governments in the Population Register on the day of the announcement of elections - on 21 January this year. According to the Law on the Election of Local Government Councils, 15 councillors are to be elected in municipalities with a population of up to 30,000 inhabitants, in municipalities with a population from 30,001 to 60,000 - 19 councillors, and in municipalities with more than 60,000 inhabitants - 23 councillors. At the same time, 13 councillors should be elected in cities with a population of up to 50,000 inhabitants and 15 councillors in cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants.
By comparison, in the local government elections of 2017, in total 1,554 councillors were elected to the councils of 118 local governments, with the exception of Riga, so that the number of councillors to be elected in these local governments will fall by 56% after this year's elections.
This year local government elections will take place in the new administrative territories, and there will be 42 local government in place of 119 after the elections in Latvia. In the Riga local government, the city council was elected in an emergency election last year.
There were 599 candidate lists and 8,945 candidates registered for the local government elections of 2017.
CEC Information Department
Tel. +371 20237331, +371 67814900