Overview
- Latvia’s parliament confirmed Andris Kulbergs as prime minister by a 66-vote margin on Thursday, May 28, and he will lead until parliamentary elections on October 3.
- The government is a four-party centre-right coalition of United List, New Unity, the National Alliance and the Greens and Farmers’ Union, excluding the Progressives and shifting the cabinet to the right.
- Kulbergs kept Baiba Braze as foreign minister and appointed Maris Kucinskis as finance minister and Colonel Raivis Melnis as defence minister to oversee stepped-up security measures.
- The change followed a row over handling of stray drones that reached Latvian territory, including a May 7 strike on an empty oil tank that prompted the sacking of the defence minister and the previous prime minister’s resignation.
- The new cabinet says it will boost air-defence capacity, work with NATO and EU partners and accept outside help such as Ukrainian experts, a move that aims to calm public fear, protect infrastructure and shape the run-up to the October vote.