Latvian president bows out, for now

Latvia's President Valdis Zatlers bowed out Thursday having failed to win a new term after clashes with influential politicians and businessmen that led him to move to dissolve parliament. Zatlers, whose campaign for accountability in public life has struck a chord, opted for a symbolic gesture on his final day in office -- a guided tour for reporters of his official residence. The 56-year-old has spent this week wrapping up his four-year mandate, which ends officially at midnight on Thursday, but has yet to make his future plans clear. "All political statements on my part will be made after I leave office," he told journalists following talks with Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovkis. Despite failing to secure a second term after parliament instead opted for former banker Andris Berzins in a June 2 vote, Zatlers has promised to remain politically active in his Baltic country of 2.2 million. He has refused to confirm or deny rumours that he is forming his own party. Zatlers has already been invited to join Dombrovskis' centre-right Unity bloc, which backed him in the election. "One of our arguments is that there is no point in forming a new party as the political spectrum is already too fragmented," Dombrovskis told AFP. In 2007 Zatlers became Latvia's third president since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. He succeeded Vaira Vike-Freiberga, who during two terms won national and international respect and steered Latvia into the European Union and NATO in 2004. Latvia's president, whose role is largely ceremonial and non-partisan, is elected by parliament, and Zatlers was a compromise candidate. Zatlers' finest hour was his last. His shock decision on May 28 to call an unprecedented referendum on the dissolution of parliament less than a year after the last general election was greeted by popular acclaim and saw his approval rating hit 79 percent according to some polls. Zatlers characterised his decision as "radical action" to tackle Latvia's "oligarchs", businessmen-cum-politicians with disproportionate clout. If the referendum approves the dissolution on July 23, as is almost certain, fresh elections will take place in September.