On May 31, the Seimas of Latvia began electing a new president of the country, who will succeed the current head of state, Egils Levits.
This is reported by Delfi.
The special session of the parliament began at 9 am, and at the time of publication, the first round of voting had begun.
Political parties nominated three candidates for the presidency: the current Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edgars Rinkevičs from "New Unity", Uldis Pilens, who is supported by the coalition party "United List", and Elina Pinto, who was nominated by the Social Democrats. But the current head of state, Egils Levits, refused to participate in the elections.
Voting can take place in one or more rounds. The new head of state can be elected on the first try, if a majority of 51 deputies out of 100 vote for him. Voting rounds with the same or different candidates are held until the president is elected.
Record-long elections were held during the 2nd and 3rd convocations of the Latvian Diet, even before the Soviet occupation during the Second World War. Then the presidents Gustavs Zemgals and Alberts Kviesis were elected after as many as 10 rounds of voting.
