Latvian Farmers' Union
Latvijas Zemnieku savienība
AbbreviationLZS
LeaderViktors Valainis
Founder
Founded12 December 1917 (1917-12-12) (original foundation)
5 July 1990 (1990-07-05) (re-established)
Banned16 May 1934 (1934-05-16)
HeadquartersLielirbes iela 17a-29, Riga
Membership (2017)1,464[1]
Ideology
Political positionCentre
National affiliationUnion of Greens and Farmers
European Parliament groupEurope of Freedom and Direct Democracy (2014)
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (2015–19)
Colours
  •   Green
  •   Yellow
  •   Light green
Saeima
11 / 100
European Parliament
0 / 8
Mayors
7 / 43
Website
lzs.lv

The Latvian Farmers' Union (Latvian: Latvijas Zemnieku savienība,[2] LZS) is an agrarian political party in Latvia.[3][4][5]

Initially formed in 1917 during the period of Latvian War of Independence, it was banned in 1934.[6] It was re-established in 1990. It is positioned in the centre on the political spectrum[3] and it has expressed conservative[7][8] and nationalistic rhetoric.[9] Since 2002, the party has been a part of the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS), together with the Latvian Green Party.[10] It was formerly a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.[11]

History

Founded in 1917, the party was the most influential conservative party in Latvia in the period from Independence in 1918 until the self-coup led by Kārlis Ulmanis in 1934, and the second most popular party overall after the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party. Ulmanis, who was a member of the party, banned all political parties after his coup including the LZS. As Latvia was subsequently occupied during the course of the Second World War, the party was dormant until it reformed in 1990 when Latvia regained its independence. Immediately after the restoration of independence, there existed several groups competing at elections to claim the legacy of the pre-war LZS.

Since 2002 it has been part of the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) coalition, which it formed along with the Latvian Green Party. The coalition also included the For Latvia and Ventspils and the Liepāja Party, who had cooperation agreements with the party allowing their members to be elected to the Saeima on the list of the Union of Greens and Farmers.

From 2014 to 2019 the party had one member of the European Parliament, Iveta Grigule, who ultimately sat with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats group, having previously sat with the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy group and as a Non-Attached Member.[12]

The Green Party and the Liepāja Party left ZZS in June 2022, but were replaced by the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party.

Electoral results

Legislative elections

Election Party leader Performance Rank Government
Votes % ± pp Seats +/–
1920 Kārlis Ulmanis 126,434 17.79 New
26 / 150
 New 2nd Coalition
1922 132,764 16.77 Decrease 1.02
17 / 100
 Decrease 9 Steady 2nd Coalition
1925 125,070 15.03 Decrease 1.74
16 / 100
 Decrease 1 Steady 2nd Coalition
1928 139,173 14.97 Decrease 0.06
16 / 100
 Steady 0 Steady 2nd Coalition
1931 118,443 12.25 Decrease 2.72
14 / 100
 Decrease 2 Steady 2nd Coalition
Banned 1934-1990 under Ulmanis regime and the Latvian SSR
1993 Jānis Kinna 119,116 10.65 New
12 / 100
 New 4th Coalition
1995 60,498 6.36
(LZS-KDS-LDP[lower-alpha 1])		 Decrease 4.29
3 / 100
 Decrease 9 Decrease 6th Coalition
1998 23,732 2.48 Decrease 3.88
0 / 100
 Decrease 3 Decrease 7th Extra-parliamentary
2002 Augusts Brigmanis 93,759 9.47
(ZZS[lower-alpha 2])		 Increase 6.99
7 / 100
 Increase 7 Increase 5th Coalition
2006 151,595 16.81
(ZZS[lower-alpha 3])		 Increase 7.34
12 / 100
 Increase 5 Increase 2nd Coalition
2010 190,025 20.11
(ZZS[lower-alpha 4])		 Increase 3.30
13 / 100
 Increase 1 Decrease 3rd Coalition
2011 111,957 12.33
(ZZS[lower-alpha 5])		 Decrease 7.78
5 / 100
 Decrease 8 Decrease 5th Opposition
2014 178,210 19.66
(ZZS[lower-alpha 6])		 Increase 7.33
11 / 100
 Increase 6 Increase 3rd Coalition
2018 83,675 9.97
(ZZS[lower-alpha 7])		 Decrease 9.69
5 / 100
 Decrease 6 Decrease 6th Opposition
2022 Armands Krauze 113,676 12.58
(ZZS[lower-alpha 8])		 Increase 2.61
11 / 100
 Increase 6 Increase 2nd Opposition (2022-2023)
Coalition
  1. ↑ LZS-KDS-LDP list won 9 seats - 3 to LZS - 3 to KDS - 1 to LDP
  2. ↑ ZZS list won 12 seats - 7 to LZS - 5 to LZP
  3. ↑ ZZS list won 18 seats - 12 to LZS - 4 to LZP - 2 to LuV
  4. ↑ ZZS list won 22 seats - 13 to LZS - 4 to LZP - 3 to LuV - 2 to LP
  5. ↑ ZZS list won 13 seats - 5 to LZS - 4 to LZP - 2 to LuV - 1 to LP
  6. ↑ ZZS list won 21 seats - 11 to LZS - 4 to LZP - 3 to LuV - 3 to LP
  7. ↑ ZZS list won 11 seats - 5 to LZS - 1 to LZP - 2 to LuV - 3 to LP
  8. ↑ ZZS list won 16 seats - 11 to LZS - 2 to LuV - 2 to LSDSP - 1 independent

Symbols and logos

References

  1. ↑ "Latvijā partijās daudzkārt mazāk biedru nekā Lietuvā un Igaunijā. Kāpēc tā?" (in Latvian). LSM.lv. 2 January 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  2. ↑ "Latvijas Zemnieku savienības programma (Programme of the Latvian Farmers' Union)". lzs.lv (in Latvian). 2018-03-24. Retrieved 2018-11-11.
  3. 1 2 Nordsieck, Wolfram (2018). "Latvia". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 27 September 2018.
  4. ↑ Social democracy & state foundation (PDF). Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Riga Office. 2018. ISBN 978-9934-8794-8-7. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  5. ↑ Ščerbinskis, Valters (June 2005). "The Latvian student corps and politics in the inter-war period of the twentieth century". Journal of Baltic Studies. 36 (2): 157–177. doi:10.1080/01629770500000021. ISSN 0162-9778. S2CID 144876082.
  6. ↑ "Vēsture". Latvijas Zemnieku savienības.
  7. ↑ "New Eastern Europe: All quite on the Baltic front?" (PDF). New Eastern Europe. January 2015.
  8. ↑ "The centenary of Latvia's foreign affairs: Ideas and personalities". National Information Agency LETA. 2016.
  9. ↑ David J. Galbreath; Daunis Auers (2010). "Green, Black and Brown: Uncovering Latvia's Environmental Politics". In David J. Galbreath (ed.). Contemporary Environmentalism in the Baltic States: From Phosphate Springs to 'Nordstream'. Routledge. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-317-96590-9.
  10. ↑ Miranda Schreurs; Elim Papadakis, eds. (2019). Historical Dictionary of the Green Movement. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 205. ISBN 978-1-5381-1960-0.
  11. ↑ "Liberals and Democrats adopt Latvia's stray MEP". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. April 25, 2015. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Liberals and Democrats adopt Latvia's stray MEP". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. April 25, 2015. Retrieved April 28, 2015.


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