Latvian president tells prime minister to keep going with coalition talks
Latvia's head of state, President Egils Levits, has given the go-ahead to Prime Minister Krišjānis Karinš (New Unity) to prolong coalition talks, public broadcaster LSM reports.
Latvia went to the polls the weekend before last, and talks are likely to result in either a three- or four-party coalition, with the US-born Karinš returning as premier.
Speaking to reporters Monday, President Levits said: "We saw that there are certain possibilities to agree on the next coalition, so I asked Krišjānis Karinš to continue in-depth negotiations."
"These negotiations must lead to a coalition and a government that could work for all four years [of the parliamentary term]," LSM reported on its English-language portal.
The oft-used if not clearly defined rule of law were among those areas that required particular attention, the president said.
Prime Minister Karinš said this week's talks will enter a new, more intense phase and should result in a "skeleton" agreement emerging
Karinš has expressed a willingness to remain in office; the other three parties in the picture in addition to New Unity are United List, the National Alliance and the Progressives.
Krišjānis Karinš, 57, is a Latvian American who was born in Wilmington, Delaware. He relocated to Latvia in the late 1990s and co-founded New Unity's forerunner party in 2002.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
Source: LSM
