Latvian opposition leftists lead in latest poll

If parliamentary elections were held in Latvia this month, the opposition leftist Harmony party would have emerged as the winner with 21.6 percent of the vote, the latest poll by Latvijas Fakti shows.

The ruling centrist Greens and Farmers Union (ZZS) was the second most popular political party in Latvia in September. The percentage of voters supporting ZZS rose by two percentage points over the month, from 13.6 percent in August to 15.6 percent in September.

The ruling center-right Unity followed with 8.1 percent voter support in September, beating its coalition partner, the right-wing National Alliance, for third position. Its voter support stayed virtually unchanged from August when it was 8.1 percent.

The National Alliance slipped to fourth place in September as its voter support dropped from 10 percent in August to 7.7 percent in September.

If parliamentary elections in Latvia were held in September, only the above four parties would receive more than 5 percent of the vote, which is necessary to win seats in parliament. Support for other political parties represented in Latvia's current parliament was not sufficient to get over the 5 percent threshold in September.

The opposition Latvian Bloc of Regions (LRA) would have received 4.5 percent of the votes and 2.7 percent of the surveyed voters would have cast their ballots for the opposition leftist For Latvia from the Heart in September.

The poll also shows that 24.2 percent of voters would not know which party to support in elections and 13.2 percent of respondents in the poll said they would not vote at all.

Source: XINHUA