Right to stand as a candidate

A local government has a decision-making body — a council, elected by the inhabitants of its administrative territory for a period of four years. 

The number of councillors to be elected is determined in accordance with the population of the relevant municipality.

Who is concerned?

Citizens of Latvia and other Member States of the European Union who have been registered in the Register of Natural Persons of Latvia.

Prerequisites

To be eligible to stand as a candidate in local government elections, the person must:

  • be at least 18 years of age on the day of the election;
  • be registered in the electoral register of Latvia;
  • have their residence in the administrative territory of the relevant local government, i.e., they must have been registered at a place of residence in the administrative territory of the relevant local government for at least the last 10 months on the day of submission of the list of candidates;

or

have been working in the administrative territory of the relevant local government (as an employee or as a self-employed person according to the law On State Social Insurance) for at least the last four months at the time of submitting their candidate application;

or

own immovable property which is registered in the administrative territory of the relevant local government.

The following persons shall not be nominated as candidates in the council elections and shall not be elected to the council:

who are serving a sentence in places of deprivation of liberty;

upon whom the court has established trusteeship;

who have been convicted of a serious or especially serious crime, except for the persons who have been exonerated or whose criminal record has been extinguished or set aside;

who at the time of committing the offence provided for in the Criminal Law were in a state of mental incapacity, a state of diminished mental capacity, or also after committing a criminal offence have become ill with a mental illness which has deprived them of the capacity to understand their actions or to control them and on whom a compulsory measure of medical nature in relation thereto has been imposed which has not been revoked;

who after 13 January 1991 have worked in the CPSU (LCP), the International Front of the Working People of the Latvian SSR, the United Work Collective Council, the Organisation of War and Labour Veterans or the All-Latvia Salvation of Society Committee or its regional Committees;

who are or have been in staff positions in the State security services, intelligence or counter-intelligence services of the USSR, the Latvian SSR or of foreign states;

who have been punished with a prohibition to stand as candidates in the Saeima, European Parliament, local government council elections, except for the persons who have been exonerated or whose criminal record has been extinguished or set aside.

A citizen of the European Union who has been deprived of the right to be nominated as a candidate and to be elected by a court judgment in the European Union Member State of which he or she is a citizen may not be nominated as a candidate in council elections or elected to a council in Latvia.

Candidate lists to the local government council may be submitted by a registered political party or a registered alliance of political parties or two or more registered political parties who have not joined in a registered alliance.

Right to vote

Citizens of Latvia and other Member States of the European Union over the age of 18 have the right to participate in local government elections. All voters must be registered in the Electoral register.

Citizens of the European Union who do not have the right to vote in the Member State of the European Union of which they are citizens have no right to elect the council in Latvia.

Citizens of the European Union must be registered in the Register of Natural Persons 90 days before the elections in order to participate in local government elections in Latvia.

Voters have the right to vote in the constituency where they have their registered place of residence 90 days before the election day or in the municipality where they own real estate.

If a voter wants to take the opportunity to vote in the constituency where he/she owns real estate, the voter has to apply for a change of the constituency no sooner than 70 days and no later than 9 days before the election.

The change of the constituency may be applied for both in-person at the authority for residence declaration of any local government and on the Internet, using the e-service of changing the polling station of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs.