On the ground of the results of the National Referendum on dissolution of the 10th Saeima (held on 23 July 2011) the 11th Saeima elections took place on 17 September 2011.
Citizens of Latvia who had the right to vote and were 18 years of age or over on election day were eligible to participate in the 11th Saeima election. To participate in the Saeima elections a voter needed to have a valid Latvian citizen’s passport.
Polling stations were open from 7.00 till 20.00 on the Election Day. Since the Voters’ Register was not used in the Saeima elections, voters could vote at any polling station at their choice. A special mark about participation in elections was made in the voter’s passport to ensure the principle ‘one person, one vote’.
Elections were organised abroad too, where 77 polling stations were established in 39 countries.
Voters in Latvia who were not able to attend polling stations for health reasons, as well as caregivers of such persons, could apply for voting at their place of residence. Such persons had to file the respective application from 7 till 17 September 2011.
Voting were organised for imprisoned voters, as well. These voters had to apply for voting to the administration of the place of imprisonment till 15 September 2011.
There should be 30 Members of Parliament elected from the Riga constituency, 27 – from the Vidzeme constituency, 15 – from the Latgale constituency, 15 – from the Zemgale constituency and 13 – from the Kurzeme constituency to the 11th Saeima.
Submission of candidate lists for the 11th Saeima elections took place from 29 June till 18 August 2011.
According to the election result five parties and associations of parties gained seats in the 11th Saeima: the Association of Political Parties “Harmony Centre” (Politisko partiju apvienība “Saskaņas Centrs”), “Zatlers’ Reform Party” (“Zatlera Reformu partija”), Unity” (“Vienotība”), National Association “All For Latvia!” - “For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK” (Nacionālā apvienība “Visu Latvijai!” – “Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK”), the Union of Greens and Farmers (Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība).
In the 11th Saeima the Association of Political Parties “Harmony Centre” will have 31 MPs’ seats, “Zatlers’ Reform Party” – 22, “Unity” – 20, National Association “All For Latvia!” - “For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK” – 14 deputy seats and the Union of Greens and Farmers – 13 MPs’ seats.
Voter turnout in the 11th Saeima elections was 59.45 percent. There were 27.34 percent of all registered abroad voters participated in the elections. 1.7 percent voters chosen to vote at their place of residence.
In the Saeima elections 917,713 voters were written into voters’ lists. There were 916,469 valid ballot envelopes received in the election, 908,214 of which contained valid ballot papers. 526,660 ballot papers or 57.99 percent of all the valid ones were altered, i.e. the ballot papers, in which voters put a + mark opposite the surnames of candidates to which they gave special support or crossed out candidates they did not support.
There were 8,256 ballot envelopes without any valid ballot paper found in ballot boxes. Among the above mentioned ballot envelopes there were 4,672 empty ballot envelopes, 3,504 ballot envelopes contained more than one ballot paper and the papers were not identical in respect to their content, 13 ballot envelopes contained ballot papers of another constituency and 67 envelopes contained torn ballot papers. There were 18 ballot envelopes in which voters put more then one identical ballot papers.