The Progressives (Latvia)
The Progressives (Latvia)
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The Progressives (Latvia)

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The Progressives (Latvia)

The Progressives (Latvian: Progresīvie ['pɾɔgɾesiːviɛ], PRO) is a social democratic and green political party in Latvia. The party was founded on 25 February 2017. Since 4 September 2021 its leaders have been Antoņina Ņenaševa and Atis Švinka. The Progressives have 11 seats on Riga City Council and 10 seats in the Saeima and one seat in the European Parliament. It was a junior partner in the Siliņa cabinet until May 2026.

The party is a successor of a social-democratic NGO of the same name (Latvian: biedrība "Progresīvie") that was founded on 26 March 2011 and was led by Ansis Dobelis. The Progressives participated in the 2017 Latvian municipal elections in four municipalities. In two of these, Aizpute and Mārupe Municipality, they won seats on the local councils.

The Progressives participated in the 2018 parliamentary election. Prior to the election, the party declined to join the liberal alliance Development/For!. The Progressives argued that staying out of the alliance was necessary to ensure that the party's left-wing policies and high standard for political donations were not compromised. The Progressives had a unique gender parity principle on their ballots, with all election list leaders being women. Their candidate for Prime Minister was Roberts Putnis [lv]. The party did not win any seats in the Saeima, receiving only 2.6% of the vote, but qualifying for state funding of €15,000 per year for surpassing the 2% threshold.

In May 2019, the Progressives participated in the 2019 European Parliament election. They ran with the slogan "More Europe" on a federalist platform, with their main proposals concerning social policy and green politics. Although polling at 4.5% in March and 4.3% in April they ultimately received only 2.9% of the vote. After the election, on 28 May, Roberts Putnis resigned as party leader. That year they also organised a small protest against the Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria in front of the Turkish embassy in Riga, as well as pickets against a labour law reform that was deemed to degrade workers rights and weaken labour unions.

In early 2020, the Riga City Council was dismissed and a snap election was called. Due to technicalities and the COVID-19 pandemic, the election was postponed until 29 August. The Progressives formed a common electoral list with the liberal Development/For! alliance, claiming that ideological differences are not as important at the local level and stressed the importance of toppling Riga's ruling SDP HarmonyHonor to serve Riga coalition that had been involved in multiple corruption scandals. The common electoral list won the election with 18 out of 60 seats, of which nine were members of the Progressives and 2 were independent city activists with ties to the Progressives.[citation needed] The Progressives' member Mārtiņš Kossovičs chairs the common City Council group of Development/For! and the Progressives, Edmunds Cepurītis is the chair of the housing and environment committee, and Viesturs Kleinbergs is the chair of the social issues committee.

In the October 2022 parliamentary election, the Progressives won 6.2% of the vote, entering the Saeima with 10 seats.

In June 2023, the Progressives were accepted as a Full Member of the European Green Party. In September 2023, the party joined the new Siliņa cabinet.

The Progressives state that one of their main goals is implementing the Nordic welfare model in Latvia, and the party political programme is called "Turning towards the Nordic countries". The party's principles include implementation of a progressive tax system, responsibility towards the environment, fighting against corruption and the shadow economy, an active state role in the economy, dropping GDP as the main measure of development, in favour of others which take the well-being of society into account such as the Happiness index, gender and LGBT equality.

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