2020 Riga City Council election

The 2020 Riga City Council election was held from 26 to 29 August 2020 to elect the 60 members of Riga City Council.[1] The election was initially scheduled for 25 April 2020, and then rescheduled three times – once due to a court ruling and twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to 2 May,[2] 6 June,[3] and 29 August. The council will be elected for nearly five years instead of the standard four, and the next election is scheduled to take place in 2025, at the same time as all other municipal elections in Latvia.

2020 Riga City Council election
26–29 August 2020
Party Leader % Seats ±
AP/P Mārtiņš Staķis 26.14% 18 New
Harmony Konstantīns Čekušins 16.91% 12 -9
New Unity Vilnis Ķirsis 15.24% 10 +6
NA/LRA Einārs Cilinskis 9.64% 7 0
GKR Oļegs Burovs 7.71% 5 -6
LKS Miroslav Mitrofanov 6.52% 4 New
JKP Linda Ozola 6.39% 4 -5
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Mayor of Riga before Mayor of Riga after
Office suspended Mārtiņš Staķis
Development/For!

Background

In the 2017 Riga City Council election, the political alliance of Harmony (SKDS) and Honor to serve Riga (GKR) lost 7 seats but held on to their absolute majority with 32 seats out of 60.[4] Nils Ušakovs was re-elected as the mayor of Riga, and served until 4 April 2019, when the Latvian minister for Environmental Protection and Regional Development Juris Pūce fired him.[5] On 31 May Dainis Turlais from GKR was elected as the new mayor of Riga, but was ousted by a vote of no-confidence on 20 June, after just 21 days in the position.[6] On 19 August Oļegs Burovs from GKR was elected as the new mayor of Riga, and served until 24 February 2020, when the City Council was officially dissolved.[7]

Opinion polls
Graphical summary
Fieldwork date Polling firm/Commissionner Sample size SDPS GKR NA/LRA AP!/P V/JV JKP ZZS LKS KPV LV Alt PNL/JS Other Lead
NA LRA LA/AP! PRO
(published on 26 August 2020) SKDS/LTV 1366 22.7 8.3 10.5 22.3 10.8 6.1 4.9 6.5 2.2 3.1 1.9 0.8 0.4
3-23 August 2020 Factum 15.4 8.1 10.5 23.6 13.9 8.3 5.7 8.4 1.2 (1-2%) (1-2%) 4.9 8.2
?-21 August 2020 Berg Research 500 21.1 9 10.8 18.3 12.9 5.4 6.9 6.9 2.4 3.6 2.7 2,8
27 July-16 August Factum 739 15.6 9.3 9.7 22.9 13.6 8.2 6.2 7.8 1.3 (1-2%) (1-2%) 5.4 7.3
20 July-9 August 2020 Factum 829 16.3 9.7 9.3 22.8 12.4 9 6.5 6.8 1.4 (1-2%) (1-2%) 5.8 6.5
13 July-1 August 2020 Factum 873 16.6 10.1 9.1 23.2 11.1 9.2 7.4 6.1 1.3 (1-2%) (1-2%) 4.9 6.6
24-28 July 2020 SKDS/LTV 1008 21,5 8,5 11,7 22,6 9 6,8 5,3 5,5 2,2 0,7 5,2 1,0 1,1
22 June-12 July Factum 412 18,3 8,5 10,5 23,7 10,9 9,8 6,1 6,4 1,6 4,2 5,4
2-6 July 2020 SKDS/LTV 556 33,2 5,9 8,6 23,3 8,4 5,7 6,1 5 1,9 1,5 0,4 9,9
25 May-14 June 2020 Factum 716 19,9 11,5 10,5 21,6 13 7,9 3,6 6,3 0,6 5,1 1,7
18-31 May 2020 Factum 636 21,7 10,7 10,2 20 13 8,5 4,5 5,7 0,6 5,1 1,7
May 2020 SKDS/LTV 36 5,9 10,1 16,6 8,1 9,7 3,2 6,6 2,3 1,1 0,4 19,4
7-26 April 2020 Factum 705 23,2 10 8,7 21,1 12 8,9 4,3 6,8 1 5 2,1
4-27 March 2020 Factum 1087 24,2 9,2 9,2 20,5 11,3 9,2 5,3 7 1,1 3 3,7
24-28 February 2020 Factum 377 26,6 6,9 8,3 20,8 12 9,5 5,2 6,1 1,7 2,9 5,8
18-21 February 2020 SKDS/LTV 364 29 8 12,8 1,3 16,3 11,6 10,8 4,2 3,8 0,7 1,5 12,7
28 January-1 February 2020 Factum 362 28,3 7,6 8,3 1,7 13,4 6,4 13,9 9,9 2,7 5,1 0,9 1,6 14,4
18-31 December 2019 Factum 511 26,4 5,3 9,3 2,4 12,6 5,4 15,4 10 1,8 7,7 1,2 2,5 11
21-24 November 2019 Factum 24,3 6,8 9 1,8 16,6 6 16,2 8,8 2 6,6 1,9 7,3
October 2019 Factum 25,3 6,2 8,4 1,7 17,2 5,7 15,4 9,6 1,6 7,2 2,7 7,8
September 2019 Factum 24,5 7,2 8,6 1,8 16,5 5,3 15,2 9,5 1,6 8,1 1,7 8
August 2019 Factum 24,9 5,7 8,7 1,0 17,6 4 13,5 12,6 1,7 8,9 1,4 7,3
22-29 July 2019 Factum 205 25,1 6,9 9,2 0,8 17,4 12,5 13 1,7 9 4,2 7,7
2017 Riga City Council election 50,8 9,3 13,7 - 6,3 13,4 3,3 - 1,5 - 0,32 1,3 37,1
Graphical summary of candidate net approval ratings

Results
Results

The coalition of the centrist Development/For! alliance and centre-left The Progressives (both new entities which did not participate in the prior elections) obtained a plurality of votes and seats. The election resulted in both parties of the governing coalition (Social Democratic Party "Harmony" and Honor to serve Riga) lose seats, and saw their combined vote share decline by nearly half. The Latvian Russian Union returned to the city council for the first time since 2009, obtaining four seats, while the New Conservative Party saw their seat count drop by five. The Union of Greens and Farmers fell less than 1% short of the 5% threshold needed to enter the council.

As no party holds a majority, a coalition will need to be formed to govern the city, with 31 seats needed for a majority coalition.

Party Votes % Seats +/–
Development/For!/The Progressives44,61926.1618New
Harmony28,81116.8912–9
New Unity25,98615.2410+6
National Alliance/Latvian Association of Regions16,4359.6470
Honor to serve Riga13,1627.725–6
Latvian Russian Union11,1126.524New
New Conservative Party10,9036.394–5
Union of Greens and Farmers6,9364.0700
Alternative5,1633.030New
New Harmony2,8921.700New
Who owns the state?1,9121.1200
United for Latvia5830.340New
National Alliance "Justice"3920.230New
Action Party3010.1800
Latvian Centrist Party2620.150New
Invalid/blank votes2,038–––
Total171,507100600
Registered voters/turnout422,68140.58––
Source: CVK

References
  1. "Extraordinary Elections to the Riga City Council (2020) | Centrālā vēlēšanu komisija". www.cvk.lv. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  2. "Tiesa maina Rīgas domes vēlēšanu datumu – nosaka 2. maiju" (in Latvian). Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  3. "Ar Saeimas lēmumu Rīgas domes vēlēšanas pārceļ uz 6. jūniju" (in Latvian). Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  4. "Election results".
  5. "Ušakovs atstādināts no Rīgas mēra amata" (in Latvian).
  6. "Turlais neiztur uzticības balsojumu". www.diena.lv. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  7. "Saeima atlaiž Rīgas domi". LA.LV (in Latvian). Retrieved 2020-07-16.
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