Latvian parliamentary election, 2011

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17 September 2011

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All 100 seats in the Saeima
51 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Nils Ušakovs	Valdis Zatlers	Valdis Dombrovskis
Party	Harmony Centre	Reform	Unity
Leader since	27 November 2005	23 July 2011	12 March 2009
Last election	26.61%	Did not contest	31.90%
Seats before	29	0	33
Seats won	31	22	20
Seat change	2	22	13
Popular vote	259,930	190,853	172,567
Percentage	28.36%	20.82%	18.83%
Swing	1.75%	20.82%	13.07%

	Fourth party	Fifth party

Leader	Raivis Dzintars	Raimonds Vējonis
Party	National Alliance	Union of Greens and Farmers
Leader since	23 July 2011
Last election	7.84%	20.11%
Seats before	8	22
Seats won	14	13
Seat change	6	9
Popular vote	127,208	111,955
Percentage	13.88%	12.22%
Swing	6.05%	7.90%

Prime Minister before election

Valdis Dombrovskis
Unity

Prime Minister

Valdis Dombrovskis
Unity

An early parliamentary election was held in Latvia on 17 September 2011, following the country's first parliamentary dissolution referendum held on 23 July 2011. The last parliamentary election was held only in October 2010.

The election resulted in Harmony Centre winning the most seats, up two to 31. This was the first time a pro-Russian party had won the most seats in a Latvian election. Unity, previously the largest party, fell to third, with 20 seats, behind the newly formed Zatlers' Reform Party, led by ex-President Valdis Zatlers, who had triggered the dissolution referendum in May. The right-wing National Alliance gained six seats to 14. Both the Union of Greens and Farmers and Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way lost heavily, with the latter falling out of the Saeima altogether.

Zatlers and incumbent Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis soon agreed to form a coalition. Needing nine further seats to give them a majority allowed three possible coalitions – with Harmony Centre, the National Alliance, or the Union of Greens and Farmers. The Greens and Farmers were quickly ruled out by Zatlers, who judged it to be an "oligarch's party". After initial talks with the National Alliance, the two briefly discussed a grand coalition with Harmony Centre. However, Zatlers and Unity returned to the National Alliance, and the three signed a coalition agreement on 11 October, with Dombrovskis as Prime Minister. The new government was confirmed by the Saeima on 25 October. A few days before the government formation, six MPs split from Zatlers' Reform Party; they still supported the new government, however.

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