President of Latvia

The president of Latvia (Latvian: Latvijas Valsts prezidents, literally "State President") is head of state and commander-in-chief of the National Armed Forces of the Republic of Latvia.

President of the Republic of Latvia
Latvijas Valsts prezidents
Presidential Standard
Incumbent
Egils Levits
since 8 July 2019
ResidenceRiga Castle
Riga
AppointerSaeima
Term lengthFour years
renewable once, consecutively
Inaugural holderJānis Čakste
14 November 1922
FormationConstitution of Latvia
Salary~ €54,732 annually[1]
Websitewww.president.lv

The term of office is four years. Before 1999, it was three years. He or she may be elected any number of times, but not more than twice in a row.[2] In the event of the vacancy in the office of the president, the speaker of the Saeima assumes the duties of the president. For example, after the death of Jānis Čakste the speaker of the Saeima, Pauls Kalniņš, was acting president briefly in 1927, before a new president could be elected.

Unlike his Estonian counterpart, the Latvian president's role is not entirely ceremonial. However, he is not as powerful as the president of Lithuania. Unlike in Estonia, he shares executive power with the cabinet and prime minister. However, he is not politically responsible for carrying out his duties, and all presidential orders must be countersigned by a member of the cabinet – usually the prime minister.

The tenth and current officeholder, and sixth since the restoration of independence, is Egils Levits, who was elected on 28 May 2019 and began his first four-year term on 8 July 2019.

List
Parties

  DC   LSDSP   LZS   LTF   LC   ZZS   LZP   None

Status
  Acting President
No. Name
(Birth–Death)		 Portrait Term of office Political party
1 Jānis Čakste
(1859–1927)[n 1]		 17 December 1918 14 November 1922 Democratic Centre
14 November 1922 14 March 1927
— Pauls Kalniņš
(1872–1945)[n 2]		 14 March 1927 8 April 1927 Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party[3]
2 Gustavs Zemgals
(1871–1939)		 8 April 1927 4 September 1930 Democratic Centre
3 Alberts Kviesis
(1881–1944)		 4 September 1930 15 May 1934 Latvian Farmers' Union
(3) 16 May 1934 10 April 1936 Independent
4 Kārlis Ulmanis
(1877–1942)[n 3]		 11 April 1936 21 July 1940 Independent
Position vacant (21 July 1940 – 8 July 1993)
— Anatolijs Gorbunovs
(born 1942)[n 4]		 21 August 1991 13 February 1993 Popular Front of Latvia
(—) 13 February 1993 8 July 1993 Latvian Way
5 Guntis Ulmanis
(born 1939)		 8 July 1993 8 July 1999 Latvian Farmers' Union
6 Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga
(born 1937)		 8 July 1999 8 July 2007 Independent
7 Valdis Zatlers
(born 1955)		 8 July 2007 8 July 2011 Independent
8 Andris Bērziņš
(born 1944)		 8 July 2011 8 July 2015 Union of Greens and Farmers[n 5]
9 Raimonds Vējonis
(born 1966)		 8 July 2015 8 July 2019 Latvian Green Party
10 Egils Levits
(born 1955)		 8 July 2019 Incumbent
(Term ends on 8 July 2023)		 Independent

Living former presidents

There are six living former Latvian presidents:

gollark: "You want to get to your neighbour's house? You have to loop around the entire city on dirt paths, pay $1000 in tolls, and spend 5 hours in traffic jams."
gollark: I should play again and design the worst road network possible.
gollark: Ah, cool!
gollark: Or funnel everyone exiting down a massive series of dirt-path loops with toll booths.
gollark: What if... you disconnect all the ways to leave the city, but have really fast input?

See also
The five most recent presidents of Latvia in 2015
Latvia
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Latvia
Foreign relations

Notes
  1. Upon Latvian independence on 17 December 1918, Jānis Čakste was head of state as Chairman of Tautas padome (1918–20) and Speaker of the Constitutional Assembly (1920–22), until he was elected President by the first Saeima on 14 November 1922.
  2. Upon Čakste's death, Speaker of the Saeima Pauls Kalniņš was acting president from 14 March 1927 to 8 April 1927.
  3. Upon the expiration of Kviesis's term, Prime minister Kārlis Ulmanis illegally merged the Presidency and the Premiership, holding both offices himself. After the Soviet occupation Prime Minister Augusts Kirhenšteins was the illegitimate Acting President from 21 July to 25 August 1940
  4. After the restoration of Latvian independence, speaker of the Latvian parliament Anatolijs Gorbunovs was acting president from 21 August 1991 to 8 July 1993.
  5. Bērziņš is not a member of parties forming the Union of Greens and Farmers, however he ran for the Saeima from their list and was a member of their parliamentary group at the time of his election.

References
  1. "Informācija par amatpersonu (darbinieku) darba samaksas apmēru sadalījumā pa amatu grupām". president.lv. 28 January 2017. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2017. (in Latvian)
  2. "President of Latvia by Baltic Legal; Part of Constitution - The president". Baltic Legal. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  3. Šiliņš, Jānis (30 May 2018). "Things to know about the split among the early Latvian leftists". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
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