Politics
On 3 June 2015, at an extraordinary sitting of the Saeima, Raimonds Vējonis was elected President of Latvia. In the decisive fifth ballot, after several candidates had dropped out, he remained the sole candidate and received 55 votes in favour and 42 against. A biologist and former minister of environment and defence, he officially took office on 8 July. Vējonis became Europe’s first “green” president, linking the presidency with security and climate priorities.
In Latvian politics, 2015 was marked by intensified security concerns after the annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine. Vējonis’s election brought to the presidency a figure with experience as defence minister and a long-standing profile in environmental policy.
Related events
- 1919On 3 June, Andrievs Niedra’s government moved from Liepāja to Riga, shortly after Riga had been taken from the Bolsheviks and before the crisis of the Battles of Cēsis.
- 1940On 3 June, Kārlis Ulmanis delivered his last major public speech at the graduation ceremony of Gārsene Primary School before the occupation of Latvia.
- 1952On 3 June, Dzintars Ābiķis was born in Ventspils; he later became a teacher and politician, serving in the Supreme Council and seven Saeimas.
Footnotes
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