Political scientist: information vacuum surrounds formation of Latvia's new government

It remains unclear when Latvia's new government will be formed and what its makeup will be. That assessment was given on 14 November on the TV24 programme "Preses klubs" by Romāns Gagunovs, a political scientist and lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Riga Stradiņš University (RSU). In his view, the uncertainty also affects expectations about when next year's budget will be adopted, and it is raising more and more questions among the public.

Gagunovs described the situation as an "information vacuum". He said that recently there has been a lack of clear information about the formation of the government, so various assumptions and rumours are spreading in the public sphere.

Rumours also come from political forces

The political scientist noted that the confusion is deepened by opinions voiced by representatives of the political forces themselves. As one example, he cited views expressed by representatives of the Apvienotais saraksts (United List) party. Differing assessments are being heard about when a government could be in place and when next year's budget could be passed, which in turn feeds speculation.

According to Gagunovs, people are trying to imagine various possible government models and to judge which parties should be part of them. However, there is not yet enough clear information to draw firm conclusions about the process ahead.

Public expectations

The political scientist believes such uncertainty inevitably raises questions, because residents want to know when it will finally become clear what the new government will look like and when it will start work.