Latvia: Populist Wind of Change

The challenging decade after the 2009 economic meltdown saw drastic austerity measures along with a high level of emigration and extensive restrictions to battle COVID-19 resulting in a paralysis of minor branches of economy. While some political newcomers emerged on the electoral scene, the basic pattern of political competition remained intact, with right-of-the-centre parties dominating multi-party coalitions and surplus coalitions tackling the crises. The high-faction discipline in the parliament did not suffer, cabinet policies remained rather compartmentalized, cabinet duration somewhat increased, although mechanisms of coalition governance saw rather cosmetic changes after the 2018 ascent of populists that also complicated the coalition bargaining process.