Prime Minister of Latvia

Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia
Flag of the Prime Minister of Latvia
Incumbent Valdis Dombrovskis since 12 March 2009
Appointer	President of Latvia
Term length	General elections to the Saeima are held every four years at most. The Prime Minister is by convention the leader of the victorious party. No term limits are imposed on the office.
Inaugural holder	Kārlis Ulmanis
Formation	19 November 1918

Latvia
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The Prime Minister of Latvia is the most powerful member of the Government of the Republic of Latvia, and presides over the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers. The Prime Minister is nominated by the President of Latvia, but must be able to obtain the support of a majority of Saeima (parliament).

The tables below display all Latvian Prime Ministers for both the first period when Latvia was independent (1918–1940) and since the country regained its independence (1990–present). From 1990 to 6 July 1993, the office was known as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, but is generally considered to have been the same role.

List of Prime Ministers (1918–1940)

Parties

      LZS       LSDSP       DC       LJS       None

Nº	Name	Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Cabinet
1	Kārlis Ulmanis		19 November 1918	11 June 1920	Latvian Farmers' Union	Provisional Govt.
			20 June 1920	18 June 1921		Ulmanis I
2	Zigfrīds Anna Meierovics		19 June 1921	26 January 1923	Latvian Farmers' Union	Meierovics I
3	Jānis Pauļuks		27 January 1923	27 June 1923	No party	Pauļuks
(2)	Zigfrīds Anna Meierovics		28 June 1923	26 January 1924	Latvian Farmers' Union	Meierovics II
4	Voldemārs Zāmuēls		27 January 1924	18 December 1924	No party	Zāmuēls
5	Hugo Celmiņš		19 December 1924	23 December 1925	Latvian Farmers' Union	Celmiņš I
(1)	Kārlis Ulmanis		24 December 1925	6 May 1926	Latvian Farmers' Union	Ulmanis II
6	Arturs Alberings		7 May 1926	18 December 1926	Latvian Farmers' Union	Alberings
7	Marģers Skujenieks		19 December 1926	23 January 1928	Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party	Skujenieks I
8	Pēteris Juraševskis		24 January 1928	30 November 1928	Democratic Centre	Juraševskis
(5)	Hugo Celmiņš		1 December 1928	26 March 1931	Latvian Farmers' Union	Celmiņš II
(1)	Kārlis Ulmanis		27 March 1931	5 December 1931	Latvian Farmers' Union	Ulmanis III
(7)	Marģers Skujenieks		6 December 1931	23 March 1933	Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party	Skujenieks II
9	Ādolfs Bļodnieks		24 March 1933	16 March 1934	New Farmers' Party	Bļodnieks
(1)	Kārlis Ulmanis		17 March 1934	15 May 1934	Latvian Farmers' Union	Ulmanis IV
(1)			16 May 1934	20 June 1940	No party	Ulmanis V
10	Augusts Kirhenšteins		20 June 1940	21 July 1940	Installed by the Soviet Union, unrecognized	Kirhenšteins

Notes

¹ During the 1918-1920 Independence War, Latvia was contested by two other governments: the government of Soviet Latvia, led by Pēteris Stučka, and the government of Andrievs Niedra, backed by Baltic Germans. Some sources may list Stučka and Niedra as prime ministers for periods when their governments controlled most of Latvia.

² On 15 May 1934, prime minister Ulmanis dissolved parliament and banned all political parties (including his own Farmer's Union), establishing authoritarian rule.

³ Puppet leader appointed by Soviet authorities. Not recognized as such by the Latvian government.

List of Prime Ministers (1990–present)

Parties

      LTF       LC       TB/LNNK       TP       JL       LZP       LPP/LC       None

Nº	Name	Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Cabinet	Saeima (Election)
1	Ivars Godmanis		7 May 1990	3 August 1993	Popular Front of Latvia	Godmanis I LTF–LC	SC (1990)
2	Valdis Birkavs		3 August 1993	15 September 1994	Latvian Way	Birkavs LC–LZS–LZP	5 (1993)
3	Māris Gailis		15 September 1994	21 December 1995	Latvian Way	Gailis LC–LZS–LZP–TPA–TB
4	Andris Šķēle		21 December 1995	13 February 1997	No party	Šķēle I DP‘S’–TB–LC–LNNK–LZS–LZP–LVP	6 (1995)
			13 February 1997	7 August 1997		Šķēle II DP‘S’–TB–LC–LNNK–LZS–LZP–KDS
5	Guntars Krasts		7 August 1997	26 November 1998	For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK	Krasts TB/LNNK–LC–LZS–LZP–DP‘S’
6	Vilis Krištopans		26 November 1998	16 July 1999	Latvian Way	Krištopans LC–TB/LNNK–JP–LSDSP	7 (1998)
(4)	Andris Šķēle		16 July 1999	5 May 2000	People's Party	Šķēle III TP–LC–TB/LNNK
7	Andris Bērziņš		5 May 2000	7 November 2002	Latvian Way	Bērziņš LC–TP–TB/LNNK–JP
8	Einars Repše		7 November 2002	9 March 2004	New Era Party	Repše JL–LPP–TB/LNNK–ZZS	8 (2002)
9	Indulis Emsis		9 March 2004	2 December 2004	Latvian Green Party (within Union of Greens and Farmers)	Emsis ZZS–TP–LPP
10	Aigars Kalvītis		2 December 2004	7 November 2006	People's Party	Kalvītis I TP–ZZS–LPP–JL
			7 November 2006	20 December 2007		Kalvītis II TP–ZZS–LPP/LC–TB/LNNK	9 (2006)
(1)	Ivars Godmanis		20 December 2007	12 March 2009	Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way	Godmanis II LPP/LC–TP–ZZS–TB/LNNK
11	Valdis Dombrovskis		12 March 2009	3 November 2010	New Era Party until 2011 Unity from 2011	Dombrovskis I JL–PS–TP–ZZS–TB/LNNK
			3 November 2010	25 October 2011		Dombrovskis II V(JL–PS–SCP)–ZZS	10 (2010)
			25 October 2011	Incumbent		Dombrovskis III V–ZRP–NA	11 (2011)

See also

• Lists of office-holders

External links

• Official list from the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers