Andris Kulbergs and Lista Unida win Latvia general election

Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs and his Lista Unida party won 35.3% of the vote and 42 seats in Latvia’s general election on October 3, 2026, according to the official count. The victory doubles the total of the second-place nationalist party and sets a record for any political formation since the Baltic nation regained independence from the Soviet Union.

Lista Unida Secures Record Majority in Saeima

With nearly 100% of the ballot boxes counted in an election where turnout hovered around 52% among 1.5 million registered voters, Kulbergs’s centrist Lista Unida captured 42 of the 100 seats in the unicameral Saeima, reported. The result marks the highest percentage of the vote received by a political formation since the country’s independence, outperforming the populist and national-conservative party Letonia Primero, which finished second with 13.1% of the vote and 17 deputies. Poder Soberano/Nuevos Letones secured third place with 11% of support and 15 seats, drawing substantial backing from the Russian-speaking minority in the eastern region.

Voter participation reached roughly 51 to 52 percent of the electorate, according to figures cited. Voters across Riga and other regions cast ballots while weighing economic concerns and the ongoing security situation in Eastern Europe, noted through interviews with voters at polling stations.

Defense Policy and Regional Security Shape the Vote

The election followed a political crisis in May 2026 when former Prime Minister Evika Silina resigned after dismissing Social Democratic Defense Minister Andris Spruds. That dismissal came after a stray drone from the Russia-Ukraine war impacted empty fuel depots in the eastern Latvian city of Rezekne, prompting Kulbergs to lead an interim coalition. Political parties across the Saeima back plans to increase defense spending toward 5% of GDP, aligning with commitments made at the Hague NATO summit in June 2025, while approximately 500 Spanish soldiers remain deployed at a Canadian-led military base in the country.

Coalition Negotiations and Immediate Government Priorities

President Edgars Rinkevics is slated to formally task Kulbergs with assembling a new government following the decisive electoral outcome. Kulbergs will likely form a pro-European and pro-Ukraine coalition involving the nationalist National Alliance, which took 8.9% of the vote, and the centrist Nueva Unidad, which secured 6.3%. During the campaign, Kulbergs outlined his immediate legislative agenda to the public broadcaster, stating, “En el nuevo Gobierno, si tengo la oportunidad de liderarlo, la primera cosa que haré es un presupuesto.”

Kulbergs said it was very good and that he did not expect such a result.