Union of Greens and Farmers

Union of Greens and Farmers
Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība
Leader Armands Krauze (LZS)
Founded 2002 (2002)
Headquarters Riga
Ideology Agrarianism[1]
Green conservatism[1]
Liberal conservatism
Political position Centre-right[1][2]
European affiliation European Green Party (LZP)
International affiliation Global Greens (LZP)
European Parliament group Alliance of Liberals and Democrats[3]
Colours Green
Saeima
21 / 100
European Parliament
1 / 8
Website
www.zzs.lv

Union of Greens and Farmers (Latvian: Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība, ZZS) is a green and agrarian political alliance in Latvia. It consists of two political parties: the Latvian Farmers' Union (LZS) and the Latvian Green Party (LZP). It is the third largest bloc in the Saeima. The Union of Greens and Farmers also cooperates closely with two regional parties: For Latvia and Ventspils and the Liepāja Party.

Although the ZZS encompases green politics, usually considered centre-left in the context of Western and Central Europe, it may be considered a centrist Nordic agrarian alliance.[2] While the alliance's formal leader is Armands Krauze, its leading figure and chief financial supporter is the oligarch Aivars Lembergs.[4] In 2015 the then leader Raimonds Vējonis became President of Latvia and subsequently resigned his leadership of the alliance.

History

The alliance was established before the 2002 parliamentary election. It ran on an ideologically amorphous agenda and won 12 out of 100 seats in the parliament. In March 2004, Indulis Emsis from the LZP became the Prime Minister of Latvia until December of that year.

On a European level, the LZP cooperates with the European Green Party while the LZS has no formal affiliation. Before the 2004 European Parliament election, ZZS announced that if its representative was elected, he or she would join one of two political groups depending on which party they belonged to.

The alliance continued for the 2006 parliamentary election, and won 18 seats. It became part of the governing coalition, and LZP chairman Indulis Emsis, who served as Prime Minister briefly in 2004, became Speaker of the Saeima.

Aivars Lembergs was the candidate of the Union of Greens and Farmers for the position of Prime Minister in 2006, before being charged with corruption, fraud, bribery, money laundering and abuse of elected office on 20 July 2006. On 14 March 2007, Lembergs was detained by the Latvian authorities in relation to a criminal investigation.

At the 2014 European Parliament election, the ZZS won 8.3% of the vote and for the first time one of Latvia's European Parliament seats. Its MEP is Iveta Grigule who initially sat with the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFFD) group. On 16 October 2014 Grigule defected from the EFDD to sit as an independent. This move required EFDD to co-opt a member of Poland's Congress of the New Right to remain eligible for parliamentary group status.[5] In April 2015 she joined the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group.

Ideology

The alliance of greens and farmers is based on similar sentimental feelings shared by the voters of the two gropus. Latvians are supportive of traditional small farms and perceive them as more environmentally friendly than large-scale farming: Nature is threatened by development, while small farms are threatened by large industrial-scale farms. For example, after the restoration of independence Latvia broke down Soviet-era collective farms and returned land to its original owners (or their descendants).[6] This perception has resulted in an alliance between green and farmer's parties, which is rare in other countries.

The alliance is eurosceptic,[7] although not opposed to Latvian membership of the European Union. The ZZS opposed the adoption of the euro by Latvia. The party opposes granting non-citizens Latvian citizenship or voting rights in local elections.[8]

Electoral results

Parliament

Election year # of overall votes % of overall vote # of overall seats won +/- Notes
2002 93,759 9.5 (#5)
12 / 100
2006 151,595 16.8 (#2)
18 / 100
 Increase 6
2010 190,025 20.1 (#3)
22 / 100
 Increase 4
2011 111,955 12.2 (#5)
13 / 100
 Decrease 9
2014 176,922 19.74 (#3)
21 / 100
 Increase 8

European Parliament

Election year # of overall votes % of overall vote # of overall seats won +/- Notes
2004 24,405 4.3 (#8)
0 / 9
2009 29,463 3.7 (#10)
0 / 8
2014 36,637 8.3 (#4)
1 / 8
 Increase 1

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Parties and Elections in Europe, "Latvia", The database about parliamentary elections and political parties in Europe, by Wolfram Nordsieck". Parties & Elections. 19 March 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  2. 1 2 Tāre, Ineta (2010). Labour Law in Latvia. London: Kluwer Law International. p. 15. ISBN 978-90-411-3325-0.
  3. ↑ "Liberals and Democrats adopt Latvia's stray MEP".
  4. ↑ Goehring, Jeannette (2007). Nations in Transit 2007: Democratization from Central Europe to Eurasia. London: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 404. ISBN 978-0-932088-26-0.
  5. ↑ "Farage's EFDD group collapses". 16 October 2014.
  6. ↑ Hiltzik, Michael (16 September 1991). "Reclaiming the Past in the Baltics : Property owners are getting back what the Soviets took away decades ago. That makes tenants and farmers nervous and fearful.". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  7. ↑ Stalker, Peter (2007). A Guide to Countries of the World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-19-920271-3.
  8. ↑ Extra, Guus; Spotti, Massimiliano Andrea; van Avermaet, Piet (2007). A Guide to Countries of the World. London: Continuum International Publishing Group. pp. 47–48. ISBN 978-1-84706-345-8.

See also

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