Bid to dissolve Jelgava Municipality Council fails to gather signatures

According to information published on the Central Election Commission's website, the signature-gathering campaign for a referendum on dissolving the Jelgava Municipality Council has failed. Only 58 signatures were collected — less than one percent of the required minimum.

To formally initiate a referendum on dissolving the council, at least 30% of eligible voters needed to take part in the signature drive, which in Jelgava Municipality amounts to roughly 7,060 people. Since the collected signatures fell drastically short of that threshold, the referendum will not be held.

Who launched the initiative

The push to dissolve the Jelgava Municipality Council was started by political activist Raimonds Lejnieks-Puķe. In the 2025 local elections, he ran for a council seat on the lists of "Suverēnā vara" and "Apvienība jaunlatvieši" but was not elected. This year he intends to run in the Saeima elections on the "Saskaņas centrs" list.

Legal background

Under the Law on Local Government Referendums, in force since September 2024, a referendum on dissolving a council cannot be initiated within one year of a new council convening, nor within one year before its term expires. The current Jelgava Municipality Council, formed after the 2025 elections, has already been in office for more than a year, meaning the initiative formally met the law's timing requirements.

This was the first instance since the law took effect that a signature drive was actually launched to initiate a referendum on dissolving a municipal council in Latvia. The failed outcome illustrates how high the bar is for such initiatives to succeed.