Latvia’s Prime Minister Evika Siliņa resigned Thursday, triggering the automatic collapse of the country’s three-party coalition and plunging a NATO frontline state into political uncertainty just months before parliamentary elections in October.
Siliņa, leader of the centre-right New Unity party, announced her decision at a press briefing Thursday morning, hours after Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis had publicly stated she had no intention of leaving. Her resignation came preemptively: the opposition was planning a procedural maneuver to circumvent the five-day pause required under Latvian law before a formal no-confidence vote, suggesting Siliņa moved first to control the terms of her departure.
“Today, I have made the difficult but honest decision — to step down from the position of Prime Minister,” Siliņa said. “Political jealousy and narrow party interests have taken precedence over responsibility.” In a televised address, she added: “I am resigning, but I am not giving up.”
Siliņa’s coalition had been fracturing for weeks, but the breaking point came when she fired Defence Minister Andris Spruds — a Progressives party member — over his handling of stray Ukrainian drones that crossed Latvian territory from Russia, including one that struck an oil depot near the border.
The Progressives withdrew their support Wednesday, stripping Siliņa of her parliamentary majority and making a no-confidence vote inevitable.
Under Latvian constitutional law, a Prime Minister’s resignation automatically triggers the resignation of the entire Cabinet. The government will continue in caretaker capacity until a new cabinet receives parliamentary approval. President Edgars Rinkēvičs will meet with all Saeima party representatives at Riga Castle on Friday to begin consultations on forming a new coalition.
Latvia shares a border with Russia and Belarus and is one of NATO’s most exposed frontline states — and one of the alliance’s most vocal advocates for continued Ukraine support. Riga co-led the European naval coalition planning conference in Paris this week, where more than 40 nations gathered to coordinate a Strait of Hormuz escort mission.
With elections in October and no governing majority, Latvia enters a period of caretaker governance at a moment of heightened regional tension.
Agriculture Minister Krišjānis Krauze and State Chancellery head Jānis Kronbergs were also detained Thursday in a separate matter that Latvian media reported as an anti-corruption investigation.
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