Parliamentary elections are due to be held in Latvia on October 3rd – which means activity to find a new partner or partners, plus all the work necessary to ensure the elections proceed correctly, will be a challenging one.
VARAM is encouraging that the work to be transferred to technology companies SIA “Latvijas Mobilais Telefons” (LMT) and SIA “Tet”, plus – perhaps surprisingly to international observers – state forestry company AS “Latvijas valsts meži” (LVM), as the state is involved in their management and all these companies have implemented significant projects in recent years.
“The contractor has not fulfilled its obligations arising from the terms of reference to this point,” VARAM stated.
On its suggestion that LMT, Tet and LVM get involved in running the elections, VARAM said:
“The companies were selected because the state is involved in their management, they have implemented significant national information technology infrastructure projects, and they employ highly qualified specialists.”
The proposal will be forwarded to the Cabinet of Ministers for consideration, but time will clearly be of the essence with just six months until the country’s most important election is die to take place under the auspices of the Central Election Commission (CVK).
The 15th Saeima elections will be held on October 3rd, but preparations for the elections have been overshadowed by a scandal involving the State Digital Development Agency (SDDAA) in state administration information technology (IT) procurement. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened criminal proceedings for alleged fraud in procurements worth 1.5 million euros. Police have detained a total of 21 people , including several state officials.
The IT scandal raised concerns among some in the public about the safe conduct of the elections, so in order for the public to have confidence that the elections were fair and transparent, President Edgars Rinkēvičs suggested six months before the elections that votes in the Saeima elections should be counted by hand rather than by machine, after the most recent local elections were beset by technical glitches.
This decision was also prompted by the fact that in the 2025 local elections, votes were initially counted using scanners , but due to technical problems on election night, it was decided to count the votes manually. These problems cost both the then head of the Central Election Commission and the Minister of Local Government Affairs their positions.
Perhaps not coincidentally, members of the Saeima State Administration and Local Government Commission will meet for a commission meeting on Wednesday, April 22nd to consider issues related to the preparation of the Saeima elections and the improvement of the regulatory framework for the work of election commissions.
“We are closely monitoring the situation so that there is clarity in time about the conduct of the Saeima elections on October 3rd. By convening the commission meeting, we want to make sure what the institutions have done to remove doubts about the security of digital systems after the initiation of criminal proceedings against companies that were involved in the development of these systems,” said the chairman of the commission, Oļegs Burovs (Independent).
During the meeting, it is planned to hear a report from the Central Election Commission and the State Digital Development Agency on the work done by the responsible institutions so far and the future planned activities for the successful conduct of the Saeima elections. Representatives of the Ministry of Smart Administration and Regional Development and the Latvian Information and Communication Technology Association have also been invited to the meeting.