Ābelnieks: I Was Ready Not to Be Elected; He Ranks Second Among NA Candidates in Bauska Municipality

Raitis Ābelnieks, a member of the Bauska Municipality Council, ran for the National Alliance (NA) in the Zemgale constituency in the 15th Saeima (Latvian parliament) elections. He received the second-highest level of voter support among the party's candidates in Bauska Municipality, but did not win a parliamentary seat. Ābelnieks says he had been prepared for this result.

Results in Bauska Municipality

In Bauska Municipality, Ābelnieks received 2,691 votes, with 560 pluses and 208 strike-outs. Only Jānis Vitenbergs did better, with 2,740 votes, 570 pluses and 169 strike-outs. Edvīns Šnore was third with 2,524 votes, and Mārtiņš Mediņš fourth with 2,495.

Results in Zemgale

Across the Zemgale constituency, Ābelnieks collected 12,946 votes, 1,023 pluses and 931 strike-outs. He moved up from fourth to third place on the party list. Vitenbergs was first with 16,414 votes and Šnore second with 13,954.

In the previous election, the 14th Saeima vote in 2022, Ābelnieks received 16,050 votes in Zemgale and was fourth among party candidates, with 1,332 pluses and 964 strike-outs. In 2010 he received 832 pluses and 1,006 strike-outs.

His assessment

Äbelnieks regards his participation as a contribution to the party's overall result. He says NA is in second place in the municipality and did well in Zemgale, and that voter turnout in the municipality, once among the lowest, is now higher than the Zemgale and national averages. He says he never ran an individual campaign and did not take part in meetings with voters or in campaign tents. According to him, he is first on the lists in Bauska town and ranks high in the rural parishes.

He names the party AS as the election winner and credits Andris Kulbergs for how he led the government. Ābelnieks believes NA should join the next government and calls AS the ideologically closest party.