Leons Līdums becomes leader of “Latvijas attīstībai” in Zemgale
Aizkraukle Municipality Council Chairman Leons Līdums will head the “Latvijas attīstībai” party list in the Zemgale electoral district for the 15th Saeima elections. A total of 17 candidates from Aizkraukle region are running, including six local council members.
With the submission of candidate lists for the 15th Saeima elections closed, the Central Election Commission has published details for the Zemgale electoral district. The district will elect 13 deputies, with 207 candidates competing—an average of 15.9 per seat. A total of 14 party lists have been submitted.
Representatives from Aizkraukle Municipality appear on several lists. The biggest surprise is the leader of the “Latvijas attīstībai” Zemgale list: Aizkraukle Municipal Council Chairman Leons Līdums, who was re-elected to his post last year. The list also includes two other Aizkraukle council deputies: Arvis Upīts and Gatis Gūtmanis.
Several other Aizkraukle municipal deputies are running for the Saeima. The National Alliance list features Gunts Libeks; “Jaunā Vienotība” list includes Jānis Sarmis Bajinskis; the “United List” has Ingus Lazdāns; and the Union of Greens and Farmers includes Daiņa Vingris. Incumbent Saeima deputy Mārtiņš Daģis, originally from Klintaine parish, is also running.
Other candidates from Aizkraukle region: from the New Conservative Party – Jānis Brokāns, Kristaps Kārklis, Raimonds Spūls-Vilcāns; from “Suverēnā vara/apvienība Jaunlatvieši” – Ludmila Ušakova, Sergejs Bizņa, Deniss Ignatjevs; from “Progresīvie” – Inga Krauze; from “Latvija pirmajā vietā” – Lauris Galiņš. Additionally, Vaira Lejniece (National Alliance) and Ilze Šikore (United List) are also from Aizkraukle.
In total, 17 candidates (8.2% of all Zemgale candidates) list Aizkraukle municipality as their place of residence. The largest share comes from Jelgava municipality (20.4%). Men dominate the candidate pool (67.1%), 75.9% have higher education, and only three have primary education. Ethnically, 76.8% are Latvian, 5.8% Russian, while 27 candidates did not specify ethnicity.
