Latvia's First Party
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Latvia's First Party
Latvijas Pirmā Partija |
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| Leader | Joint leadership of Ēriks Jēkabsons and Ainārs Šlesers. |
| Founded | May 25, 2002 |
| Dissolved | August 25, 2007 |
| Succeeded by | Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way |
| Headquarters | Riga |
| Ideology |
Conservatism Christian democracy |
| Political position | Right-wing |
| European affiliation | None |
| International affiliation | None |
| Colours | Purple, green |
| Website | |
| http://www.lpp.lv | |
The Latvia's First Party (Latvian: Latvijas Pirmā Partija) was a right-wing, socially conservative and Christian democraticpolitical party in Latvia. It merged with Latvian Way to form Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way in 2007.
It was founded on 25 May 2002, led by Ēriks Jēkabsons and Ainārs Šlesers. The party included a number of priests from all the major branches of Christianity in Latvia (Lutheran, Catholic, Orthodox and Baptist) and, also, members of Jaunā Paaudze (New Generation), a controversial charismatic group. As a result, it was informally nicknamed "the party of priests" or "pastors' party".
Using populist promises and support from religious organisations, it won 9.5% of the popular vote and 10 out of 100 seats at the legislative elections of October 5, 2002 and has joined all the coalition governments since that time. At the 2006 elections it ran together with Latvian Way; the bloc took 8.58%, but also won 10 seats in parliament. The parties merged the following years.
The party proclaimed itself to be a strong supporter of the traditional family. It sponsored a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, unambiguously excluding homosexual unions. Several prominent members of the party have been labelled as homophobic by its critics. E.g. Jānis Šmits who was appointed to the position of chairman of the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee has called his parliamentary colleagues to get familiar with religious writings "in case they can actually, read", quoting a passage from The Book of Moses, that could be loosely translated as: "men having gay sex must die, and their corpses must be left soaking in their own blood". Additionally, Latvijas Pirmā Partija members have several times made public statements saying that they don't feel that there is a necessity for a gay pride march in Riga, which allegedly contradicts the Freedom of Speech and Peaceful Assembly enshrined in the Constitution of Latvia. The pressure group Mozaīka (Mosaic) have mostly organized Gay Rights Rallies that some religious organizations see as overt frontal attacks on the Latvian way of life. Mozaīka have stated that they have done this to raise awareness for the rights of gays in Latvia via international media. Between annual rallies Mozaīka has done little to slowly generate improved understanding of gays in Latvia and has preferred to follow its strategy of shock tactics. ().
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