For Latvia's Development

For Latvia's Development (Latvian: Latvijas attīstībai, abbr. LA) is a classical liberal political party in Latvia.^[4][5] It is positioned on the centre-right on the political spectrum.^[5] From 2018 to 2022 it was one of the members of the Development/For! alliance, before it de facto dissolved.^[6][7][8]

For Latvia's Development Latvijas attīstībai
Abbreviation	LA
Co-chairs	Ivars Ijabs Juris Pūce Artis Pabriks[1]
Founder	Einars Repše
Founded	15 December 2013; 10 years ago (2013-12-15)[2]
Split from	Unity
Headquarters	Blaumaņa iela 5a Riga
Youth wing	Jaunieši attīstībai[3]
Ideology	Classical liberalism Market liberalism
Political position	Centre-right
National affiliation	Development/For! (de jure only)
European affiliation	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party
European Parliament group	Renew Europe
Colours	Grey   Yellow (customary)[a]
Saeima	0 / 100
European Parliament	1 / 8
Riga City Council	3 / 60
Mayors	4 / 43
Website
attistibai.lv
Politics of Latvia Political parties Elections

History

The party was founded in 2013 by the former Prime Minister of Latvia Einars Repše.^[2]

Internationally the party is a full member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party, a grouping of centrist and liberal parties from across Europe, since April 2013.^[9]

On 29 November 2014 Juris Pūce was elected as the new chairperson and a new political manifesto was adopted.^[10]

With the adoption of the new manifesto, the party defined itself as a liberal party that "appreciates and values" individual freedom and equal treatment before the law regardless of nationality, race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, or physical and mental abilities. Later on the party defined itself as representing classical or market liberalism.

Ahead of the 2018 parliamentary election, LA formed an alliance with Movement For! and Growth, called "Development/For!".^[11] This alliance, led by Artis Pabriks, won 12% of the votes and 13 of 100 seats in the Saeima. It joined the Kariņš cabinet, taking three ministerial posts, including Juris Pūce as minister of environmental protection and regional development as well as Artis Pabriks as defence minister and deputy prime minister. Artis Pabriks and member of the European Parliament Ivars Ijabs, who had been members of the "Development/For!" alliance, but not For Latvia's Development, joined the party in October 2019.^[12]

After disappointing results from the 2022 parliamentary election, in which the alliance failed to return its parliamentary seats, the alliance was technically dissolved, though it remains registered to maintain state funding under the legal name of PLI (an abbreviation of the initials of the names of the former constituent parties).^[13]

Election results

Legislative elections

Election	Party leader	Performance					Rank	Government
		Votes	%	± pp	Seats	+/–
2014	Einars Repše	8,156	0.90	New	0 / 100	New	9th	Extra-parliamentary
2018[b]	Juris Pūce	101,685	12.12	11.22	6 / 100	6	4th	Coalition
2022[b]	Artis Pabriks	45,452	4.97	7.15	0 / 100	0	8th	Extra-parliamentary

European Parliament elections

Election	List leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	EP Group
2014	Andrejs Žagars	9,421	2.14 (#8)	0 / 8	New	–
2019[c]	Ivars Ijabs	58,763	12.49 (#4)	1 / 8	1	RE
2024		48,696	9.46 (#3)	1 / 8	0

Riga City Council

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Government
20172	34,176	13.66 (#2)	9 / 60	New	in opposition

² In an electoral alliance with Latvian Association of Regions.

Cohabitation Law initiative

On 23 March 2015 party leader Juris Pūce launched a signature collection campaign on ManaBalss.lv for the adoption of a Cohabitation Law in Latvia^[14] that received more than 10,000 signatures, but was rejected by the Saeima on 15 March 2018.^[15]

Symbols and logos

• 
  2013–2016
• 
  2019–2021
• 
  2021-2023

Notes

1. Former colors:
     Radical red (2013–2016)
     Red (2016–2019)
       Pink and yellow (2019–2021)
       Yellow and black (2021–2023)
2. Run as part of the Development/For! coalition (Movement For!, LA and Izaugsme)
3. The Development/For! list won 1 seat, that went to LA

References

1. "Latvijas Attīstībai elects new party co-chairs and sets goals". aldeparty.eu. 14 December 2022. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
2. "For Latvia's Development becomes political party with Repse as chairman". The Baltic Course. 14 December 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
3. "Jaunieši attīstībai" (in Latvian). jauniesi.attistibai.lv.
4. Kramer, Samuel (25 October 2022). "The Short, (Un)happy Life of Development/For! – What It Can Teach Liberalism Europe-wide - Foreign Policy Research Institute". www.fpri.org. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
5. "What became of Latvia's left?". openDemocracy. 18 December 2017.
6. Reģistrējoties teju 300 biedriem nodibina partiju Kustība Par!. tvnet.lv. Accessed on 27 February 2018.
7. "Politisko partiju apvienības "Attīstībai/Par!" valdes paziņojums - Attīstībai/Par!" (in Latvian). 25 November 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
8. {{Cite web |last=Kramer |first=Samuel |date=2022-10-25 |title=The Short, (Un)happy Life of Development/For! – What It Can Teach Liberalism Europe-wide - Foreign Policy Research Institute |url=https://www.fpri.org/article/2022/10/the-short-unhappy-life-of-development-for-what-it-can-teach-liberalism-europe-wide/ |access-date=2024-04-16 |website=www.fpri.org |language=en-US}
9. "ALDE Party - Member Parties | ALDE Party". aldeparty.eu. Archived from the original on 30 November 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
10. "Juris Pūce new chairperson of Latvijas Attīstībai | ALDE Party". Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
11. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2018). "Latvia". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
12. "Pabriks and Ijabs join For Development of Latvia party". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 3 October 2019.
13. "Politisko partiju apvienības "Attīstībai/Par!" valdes paziņojums - Attīstībai/Par!" (in Latvian). 25 November 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
14. "Coalition sceptical about approving Cohabitation Law". Baltic News Network. LETA. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
15. "Saeima rejects public initiative calling for Cohabitation Law". The Baltic Course. 16 March 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2018.

External links

• Official website (in Latvian)