National Harmony Party

The National Harmony Party (Latvian: Tautas Saskaņas partija, TSP; Russian: Партия народного согласия) was a political party in Latvia.

National Harmony Party Tautas Saskaņas partija Партия народного согласия
Abbreviation	TSP (Latvian) ПНС (Russian)
Leader	Jānis Urbanovičs
Founder	Jānis Jurkāns
Founded	4 March 1994 (1994-03-04)
Dissolved	10 February 2010 (2010-02-10)
Split from	Popular Front of Latvia
Preceded by	Harmony for Latvia — Revival of the National Economy
Merged into	Social Democratic Party "Harmony"
Headquarters	Riga
Ideology	Social democracy[1] Russian minority politics[1] Russophilia[2]
Political position	Centre-left
National affiliation	Harmony Centre[1] (2005-2010)
European Parliament group	Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (2009-2010)
Colours	Maroon   White
Seats in the 9th Saeima	11 / 100
Seats in the 7th European Parliament	1 / 8
Website
tsp.lv
Politics of Latvia Political parties Elections

The party identified with social democracy. It supported further liberalisation of Latvian nationality law by granting citizenship to non-citizens who had lived in Latvia for at least 10 years. (The present law only allows Soviet-era migrants to apply for citizenship through a process of naturalization). It also supported expanding education in minority languages, particularly Russian.

History

The roots of the TSP lay within the moderate wing of Popular Front of Latvia, the Latvian independence movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Its leader, Jānis Jurkāns, was the first Minister of Foreign Affairs of newly re-independent Latvia, from 1990 to 1992 when he had to leave the government for his stance on relations with Russia. Together with other activists, Jurkāns founded the Harmony for Latvia (Saskaņa Latvijai - Atdzimšana Tautsaimniecībai) alliance, which won 13 seats in the 1993 parliamentary election. The alliance split in 1994, with the free-market liberal wing becoming the Political Union of Economists and the social-democratic wing becoming the TSP. Jurkāns served as leader from then until 2005, when he resigned. The party's last Chairman was Jānis Urbanovičs.

From its foundation, the party was popular with ethnic Russian voters for its moderate views on the citizenship issue and official languages. Unlike other parties popular with Russians, it also had a considerable number of ethnic Latvians in its leadership and was an attempt to bridge the ethnic divide in Latvian politics. The TSP won 6 seats at the 1995 parliamentary election. In 1998, it allied with two other predominantly Russian parties, the Latvian Socialist Party and Equal Rights, both of which held more radical pro-Russian positions. This step seriously damaged the reputation of the TSP amongst ethnic Latvians. The three parties founded the For Human Rights in United Latvia alliance. At the 2002 parliamentary election, the alliance won 18.9% at the popular vote and 25 seats. In 2003, the TSP left the alliance. It won no seats at the 2004 European Parliament election, and in 2005 lost its representation on Riga City Council.

In 2005, the party created the electoral alliance Harmony Centre, containing, amongst other parties, the Latvian Socialist Party, one of its former partners in For Human Rights in United Latvia. Harmony Centre won 17 seats in the 2006 parliamentary election. The TSP formed the basis of the Harmony party which was created on 10 February 2010.

Election results

Legislative elections

Election	Party leader	Performance					Rank	Government
		Votes	%	± pp	Seats	+/–
1993	Jānis Jurkāns	134,289	12.01	New	13 / 100	New	3rd	Opposition
1995		53,041	5.58	6.43	6 / 100	7	8th	Opposition
1998		135,700	14.20	8.62	16 / 100	10	4th	Opposition
2002		189,088	19.09 (ForHRUL[a])	4.89	12 / 100	4	2nd	Opposition
2006	Jānis Urbanovičs	130,887	14.52 (Harmony Centre[b])	4.57	11 / 100	1	4th	Opposition

1. For Human Rights in United Latvia list won 25 seats - 12 went to TSP - 8 to Equal Rights - 5 to LSP
2. Harmony Centre list won 17 seats - 11 went to TSP - 4 to LSP - 2 to JC - 1 to DPP

European Parliament elections

Election	Party leader	Performance					Rank
		Votes	%	± pp	Seats	+/–
2004	Jānis Jurkāns	27,506	4.81	New	0 / 8	New	6th
2009	Aleksandrs Mirskis	154,894	19.93	15.12	1 / 8	2	2nd[a]

1. Harmony Centre list won 2 seats - 1 went to TSP - 1 to LSP

References

1. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2007). "Latvia". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 8 October 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
2. О «Согласии» (in Russian).