Ratnieks Refuses Saeima Deputy Mandate; Next Candidate Ķipurs

Riga Vice-Mayor Edvards Ratnieks of the National Alliance (NA) has announced that he will not accept the Saeima deputy mandate for the remaining four months. In a Twitter post, Ratnieks stated that he considers it important to continue his work as vice-mayor and sees opportunities to strengthen Riga’s security in cooperation with Interior Minister Jānis Dombrava (NA) on immigration and civil protection issues. He noted that while he received support from Riga residents in the 2022 Saeima elections, he also received their trust as NA’s mayoral candidate in last year’s Riga City Council elections.

Earlier, Riga City Council deputy Ģirts Lapiņš (NA) also refused the mandate. Lapiņš emphasized that his priority is security in Latvia and Riga, so he will continue chairing the city’s Security, Order and Corruption Prevention Committee and serve as an unpaid advisor to Interior Minister Dombrava on civil protection. Both mandates became available after Nauris Puntulis stepped down as Saeima deputy to become culture minister.

According to the Central Election Commission, the next candidate in line is Roberts Ķipurs, a history teacher at Riga State Gymnasium No.1 and Riga Art and Media Technical School, board member of the History and Social Science Teachers’ Association, and founder of the website "Latvijaspieminekli.lv".

These changes follow the formation of the new government, where several NA deputies – Ilze Indriksone, Jānis Dombrava, Nauris Puntulis, and Jānis Vitenbergs – became ministers. Some "soft" mandates have already been accepted, for instance by Liepāja teacher Normunds Dzintars and Bauska municipal deputy Arnolds Jātnieks. Former deputy Jānis Iesalnieks also refused the mandate, paving the way for Jānis Eglīts to enter parliament.