National Alliance Nacionālā apvienība | |
|---|---|
_logo.svg){kind=logo} | |
| Abbreviation | NA |
| Chairwoman | Ilze Indriksone |
| Founder | Roberts Zīle |
| Founded | 4 July 2010; 15 years ago (2010-07-04)[1] (electoral alliance) 23 July 2011; 14 years ago (2011-07-23) (party) |
| Merger of | |
| Headquarters | 2nd floor, 4-1B Torna Street,Riga LV-1050 |
| Newspaper | Nacionālā Neatkarība |
| Youth wing | Nacionālās apvienības jauniešu organizācija[2] |
| Membership(2017) |  1,094[3] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Right-wing |
| European affiliation | European Conservatives and Reformists Party |
| European Parliament group | European Conservatives and Reformists Group |
| International affiliation | International Democracy Union |
| Colours |
|
| Saeima | 13 / 100 (13%) |
| European Parliament | 2 / 9 (22%) |
| Government of Latvia | 0 / 14 |
| Riga City Council | 5 / 60 |
| Mayors | 5 / 43 |
| Website | |
| nacionalaapvieniba.lv | |
TheNational Alliance (Latvian:Nacionālā apvienība,NA), officially theNational Alliance "All for Latvia!" – "For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK" (Latvian:Nacionālā apvienība "Visu Latvijai!" – "Tēvzemei un Brīvībai"/LNNK), is anational-conservative political party inLatvia.
It was formed as anelectoral alliance for the2010 Latvian parliamentary election between theFor Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK andAll for Latvia! parties. It won eight seats, placing it fourth among all parties. In July 2011, it merged into a single political party under the leadership ofGaidis Bērziņš andRaivis Dzintars. In the2014 Latvian parliamentary election, it again increased its seats to seventeen, and entered acentre-right coalition, along withUnity and theUnion of Greens and Farmers under Prime MinisterLaimdota Straujuma.
It has participated in everygovernment of Latvia from the2011 Latvian parliamentary election until theSiliņa cabinet to preventHarmony Centre from leading the coalition. It is also a member of theEuropean Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR) and its two MEPs,Roberts Zīle andRihards Kols, sit in the ECR group in theEuropean Parliament. The party controls the town and city governments ofOgre,Bauska,Smiltene,Sigulda, andTalsi.
It was founded as anelectoral alliance in 2010 by the national-conservativeFor Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK and the far-rightAll for Latvia! after the two parties were refused entry into theUnity alliance.[4][5] The loose alliance was transformed into a unitary party on 23 July 2011.[6] In the2010 Latvian parliamentary election, the alliance won 8 seats.[7] As part of the outgoing government, it was involved in negotiations after the election to renew the coalition but was vetoed by theSociety for Political Change,[8] which had not been part of the government but had joined the Unity alliance.
In May 2011, the party supported the re-election ofValdis Zatlers in the2011 Latvian presidential election.[9] The alliance became a single united party on 23 July 2011. At the2011 Latvian parliamentary election, the National Alliance won fourteen seats, an increase of six on the previous year, making it the fourth-largest party in theSaeima. After extensive negotiations with an aim to avoid Kremlin supporting powers from gaining seats in government,[10][11] it joined acentre-right government with Unity andZatlers' Reform Party, with the party'sGaidis Bērziņš asMinister for Justice andŽaneta Jaunzeme-Grende asMinister for Culture.[10]
On 23 August 2013, the All for Latvia! wing of National Alliance signed the Bauska Declaration together with theConservative People's Party of Estonia andLithuanian Nationalist and Republican Union calling for a new national awakening of the Baltic states and warning about perceived threats posed bycultural Marxism, "postmodernisticmulticulturalism", "destructiveliberalism", andRussian imperialism.[12] The merging period of the two founding parties was ended on the National Alliance's third congress on 7 December 2013, finally creating one unitary party.[13][14]
In the2014 Latvian parliamentary election, the party gained 17 seats and entered a centre-right coalition, along with Unity and theUnion of Greens and Farmers under Prime MinisterLaimdota Straujuma.[15] The party succeeded to include several points in the Declaration of the government and coalition treaty, such as to begin gradual Latvianization of the bilingual educational system starting from 2018; to limit the residence permit acquisition programme established in 2010, increase state support to family values and the demography programme; to make national identity,Latvian language, andLatvian culture as a priority as it is defined in theConstitution of Latvia; opening of natural gas market in order to end theGazprom monopoly in the Latvian energy market; veto rights to any decision which could weaken the positions of the Latvian language.[16]
After the2018 Latvian parliamentary election, in which the party won 13 seats,Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš was tasked by Latvian PresidentRaimonds Vējonis with forming the next government following the failures of previous nominees Bordāns and Gobzems in a contentious negotiation process.[17] Kariņš took office as prime minister on 23 January 2019, leading a broad centre-right coalition of five conservative and liberal parties (Kariņš cabinet) that included National Alliance, along withDevelopment/For!,New Conservative Party, Kariņš' Unity, andWho Owns the State? parties.
The National Alliance is anational-conservative party,[18] as well associally conservative.[19] It has also been described asright-wing populist ornationalist,[7] and placed on theright-wing,[20][21] orradical right,[22][23] of the political spectrum.[24][25][26] In its platform, the party lists its core priorities as protecting Latvian language, culture, and heritage. Aneconomically liberal party,[27] it takes a pro-West stance in foreign policy, supports economic reform to promote business competition, and calls for a "non-taxable minimum pension" for all citizens.[28] In 2021, the party submitted to the Saeima a draft law regarding an amendment to the Constitution, which intended to strictly define the concept of family as a union of a male and a female person.[29]
It has taken right-wing populist positions,[30][31] and it actively opposes immigration, both the residence permit selling programme and the refugee quota system intended by theEuropean Union (EU), emphasizing the already large number of Soviet-era settlers in Latvia.[32] It has compared the modern advocates of immigration with those who supported the planned massimmigration to theLatvian Soviet Socialist Republic, which affected thedemographics of Latvia, such as the expansion of the Russian-speaking minority.[33]
In parallel to its national-conservative rhetoric, the National Alliance has denouncedethnic nationalism, notably expelling formerMārupe city councillorRaivis Zeltīts from the party for his alleged past involvement in online ethnonationalist andwhite supremacist forums.[34] Party leader Raivis Dzintars has instead endorsed a vision ofcultural nationalism, including stating in an interview to theDelfi news agency prior to the2022 Latvian parliamentary election: “We have always been and will be for a Latvian Latvia, but we will never divide our citizens by their ethnicity or ancestry. What we care about is people’s values, language, culture – The National Alliance has had Latvians of various ethnic backgrounds in our ranks, and that is exactly the way it should be.”[35]
The party was the only one of the leading coalition partners that completely refused both the refugee quota system, as well as voluntary acceptation of refugees.[36][37] In August 2015, the party took part in organizing the anti-immigration rally in Rīga.[38]
Thisanti-immigration position was accented in the annual foreign affair debates in theSaeima, also turning against perceived liberal immigration policy andpolitical correctness in the EU.[39]
The party supports the establishment of anational day of remembrance for theLatvian Legion, a mostly conscription-based military formation withinNazi Germany'sWaffen-SS, arguing that they were not Nazis but rather martyred liberation fighters resisting both the Soviet and Nazi occupations, who were later acquitted at theNuremberg trials. The Saeima has rejected proposals by the National Alliance to formally establish it as a holiday in 2013, 2018, and 2019.[40][41][42] MPs from the National Alliance are regular participants in the annual commemoration events for the Latvian Legion.[43]
In foreign policy, the party wants to participate in what it calls the "Western geopolitical space". It supports Latvian membership ofNATO.[28] The party takes aEurosceptic, or what they describe asEurorealist, stance towards the EU, by opposing bureaucracy and centralization of powers around Brussels, arguing that the EU should be limited to a trading block as opposed to a bureaucratic political organization, and that member states must work to fight crime and defend European culture together but not impose on domestic decision-making and political sovereignty of nations, and abandon what the party calls the EU's "everything for all" approach.[44]
FollowingBrexit, the National Alliance stated that the UK's decision must be respected and the country needs to remain an important ally of Europe and Latvia, and that the EU must not retaliate against Britain and instead pursue a free trade agreement with Britain.[44]
Since the beginning of theRusso-Ukrainian War, the party has taken a pro-Ukrainian position and suggested a stricter anti-Kremlin position for the Latvian government,[45][46] as well as theCouncil of Europe.[47]
| Election | Party leader | Performance | Rank | Government | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ± pp | Seats | +/– | ||||
| 2010 | Roberts Zīle | 74,029 | 7.84 | New | 8 / 100 | New | 4th | Opposition |
| 2011 | Raivis Dzintars | 127,208 | 14.01 | 6.17 | 14 / 100 | 6 |  4th | Coalition |
| 2014 | 151,567 | 16.72 | 2.71 | 17 / 100 | 3 | 4th | Coalition | |
| 2018 | Roberts Zīle | 92,963 | 11.08 |  5.64 | 13 / 100 | 4 | 5th | Coalition |
| 2022 | Raivis Dzintars | 84,939 | 9.40 | 1.68 | 13 / 100 | 0 | 4th | Coalition(2022–2023) |
| Opposition(2023–) | ||||||||
| Election | List leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Roberts Zīle | 63,229 | 17.56 (#3) | 1 / 8 | New | ECR |
| 2019 | 77,591 | 16.49 (#3) | 2 / 8 | 1 | ||
| 2024 | 114,858 | 22.32 (#2) | 2 / 9 | 0 |
| Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 40,920 | 17.86 (#2) | 12 / 60 | |
| 2017 | 23,135 | 9.25 (#4) | 6 / 60 | 6 |
| 2020 | 16,435 | 9.64 (#4) | 7 / 60 | 1 |
Parliamentary group:European Conservatives and Reformists Group | |||||
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