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LATVIA
Population
Total population in Latvia is 1,950,116 by 1st January 2017. 12.89%of the population is foreign born (Eurostat). The median age of Austrians is 41.44 which is slightly more than the European average of 40.36 (UN Data).
Political Parties
The most recent parliamentary election was held in October 2017. The prominent parties, vote shares in this election and their orientations are as follows (Parlgov):
|
Party Name |
Vote Share |
Ideological Orientation |
|
Harmony |
23 |
Social democracy |
|
Unity |
21.87 |
Conservative |
|
Green and Farmers' Union |
19.53 |
Agrarian |
|
National Alliance / For Fatherland and Freedom / LNNK |
16.61 |
Right-wing |
|
Latvian Association of Regions |
6.66 |
Conservative |
|
For Latvia from the Heart |
6.85 |
Conservative |
|
For Human Rights in a United Latvia |
1.58 |
Social democracy |
Electoral System
The system used in Latvia is List PR with open lists in which parties make lists of candidates to be elected, and seats get distributed to each party in proportion to the number of votes the party receives (Wikipedia). The voter turnout in 2014 election was 58.80 % (idea.int).
Quality of Democracy
Latvia is a parliamentary democracy. Quality of democracy score by Freedom House is 2 out of 7 where 1 is most free and 7 is least free. According to Transparency International, Latvia is ranked 40th least corrupted among 180 countries with a score of 58 out of 100.
Gender Equality
16% of the parliamentarians are women currently while there is no legislated quota for women candidates. (World Bank)