Latvia in flux? How the Russian invasion of Ukraine transformed the Latvian party system

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Latvian political system has undergone several seismic shifts. Formerly dominant parties have been ousted from the Latvian parliament. Prime ministers and presidents have resigned. The initial political response to the invasion by most Latvian political parties aggravated interethnic relations in the country. At the same time, however, diverging attitudes towards the invasion among Latvia’s Russian-speaking population constituted a transformative moment for the party system. New parties have sought to attract both Latvian- and Russian-speakers, thus bridging the ethnopolitical gap that for decades has pervaded the Latvian party system.