Sociologist: Low voter turnout in election no coincidence

According to the latest data, only 51% of eligible voters turned out for the recent election. Arnis Kaktiņš, head of the sociological research agency SKDS, says this low turnout is not a random occurrence but the result of a longer-term trend.

Years of dissatisfaction

Kaktiņš explains that for roughly the past twenty years, a majority of the country's residents have expressed dissatisfaction with the situation in Latvia and have wanted serious, even fundamental, change. However, in this election, most voters did not see a party capable of offering real hope for such change.

Passivity among Russian-speaking voters

As a second factor behind the low turnout, the sociologist points to the passivity of voters whose native language is Russian. According to Kaktiņš, this group of residents was particularly inactive in the voting process, which also affected the overall turnout figure.

The sociologist thus links the low voter turnout to two factors — prolonged disappointment with the existing political offerings and lower participation among a specific segment of the population.