Rosļikovs remains on 'Stabilitātei!' list despite fleeing to Belarus

The party 'Stabilitātei!' has included Aleksejs Rosļikovs in its candidate list for the upcoming Saeima elections. Rosļikovs, who fled to Belarus and is currently a defendant in a criminal case, will run as the second number in the Riga district. Although earlier announcements suggested he had stepped down from the party leadership, he remains a party member.

According to the Central Election Commission website, Rosļikovs lists his occupation as 'advisor (consultant)' for the party. Party chair Svetlana Čulkova explained that as a founder, Rosļikovs is legally a perpetual party member. In an interview, Rosļikovs claimed he resigned as leader to protect the party from potential closure.

Under Latvian election law, the only restriction is that a candidate cannot be serving a prison sentence. Therefore, Rosļikovs' residence in Belarus and ongoing criminal proceedings do not disqualify him. However, if a court imposes a prison sentence before the elections, the party would have to remove him from the list.

Rosļikovs is considered the party's primary asset—he received 19,428 positive votes in the 2022 elections, far surpassing other candidates. The party has seen high turnover: only 21.5% of 2022 candidates are running again in 2026.

Observers suggest that the campaign and potential return to parliament serve Rosļikovs as a platform to portray himself as a 'political prisoner'. The party's platform includes calls to restart economic ties with Russia and Belarus and to review criminal cases with signs of political persecution—a clear reference to Rosļikovs' own situation.