Latvia's unusual political constellation

Latvia's party system is very different to those of other countries, the online paper Cita Diena writes, and sees its large Russian minority as one of the reasons: "Practically ever since our independence was restored we have grown accustomed to evaluating the ideology of our parties according mainly to ethnic criteria. The Latvians voted primarily for the 'right' while the 'left' recruited its supporters among the Russians. This division has a logical basis. The national question is always a burning issue in Latvia and mobilises voters, but above all there are no clear differences between the parties as regards economic issues. Naturally there was conflict over the privatisation of large companies, but to this day the parties and their sponsors have pursued primarily their own concrete material interests, which is why you can't really talk about ideological differences here."

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