President of Latvia

President of the Republic of Latvia Latvijas Valsts prezidents
Presidential Standard
Incumbent Raimonds Vējonis since 8 July 2015
Residence	Riga Castle Riga
Appointer	Saeima
Term length	Four years renewable once, consecutively
Inaugural holder	Jānis Čakste 14 November 1922
Formation	Constitution of Latvia
Salary	55,000 Ls[1]
Website	Latvijas Valsts prezidenta mājas lapa

The President of Latvia (Latvian: Latvijas Valsts prezidents), is head of state and commander-in-chief of the National Armed Forces of the Republic of Latvia.

The term of office is four years. Before 1997, it was three years. He or she may be elected any number of times, but not more than twice in a row.^[2] In the event of the vacancy in the office of the President, the Speaker of the Saeima assumes the duties of the President. For example, after the death of Jānis Čakste the Speaker of the Saeima, Pauls Kalniņš, was acting president briefly in 1927, before a new President could be elected.

Unlike his Estonian counterpart, the Latvian president's role is not entirely ceremonial. However, he is not as powerful as the President of Lithuania. The official Latvian term Valsts prezidents literally means 'State President'.

List

Parties

      DC       LSDSP       LZS       LTF       LC       ZZS       LZP       None

Status

  Acting President

№	Name (Birth–Death)	Portrait	Term of office		Political party
1	Jānis Čakste (1859–1927)[n 1]		17 December 1918	14 November 1922	Democratic Centre
			14 November 1922	14 March 1927
—	Pauls Kalniņš (1872–1945)[n 2]		14 March 1927	8 April 1927	Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party
2	Gustavs Zemgals (1871–1939)		8 April 1927	4 September 1930	Democratic Centre
3	Alberts Kviesis (1859–1927)		4 September 1930	15 May 1934	Latvian Farmers' Union
(3)			16 May 1934	10 April 1936	Independent
4	Kārlis Ulmanis (1877–1942)[n 3]		11 April 1936	21 July 1940	Authoritarian dictatorship
Position vacant (21 July 1940 – 8 July 1993)
—	Anatolijs Gorbunovs (1942–)[n 4]		21 August 1991	13 February 1993	Popular Front of Latvia
(—)			13 February 1993	8 July 1993	Latvian Way
5	Guntis Ulmanis (1939–)		8 July 1993	8 July 1999	Latvian Farmers' Union
6	Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga (1937–)		8 July 1999	8 July 2007	Independent
7	Valdis Zatlers (1955–)		8 July 2007	8 July 2011	Independent
8	Andris Bērziņš (1944–)		8 July 2011	8 July 2015	Union of Greens and Farmers [n 5]
9	Raimonds Vējonis (1966–)		8 July 2015	Incumbent	Latvian Green Party

See also

The five most recent presidents of Latvia in 2015

• Lists of office-holders
• List of Chairmen of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic ("head of state" during the Soviet era)

Notes

1. Upon Latvian independence on 17 December 1918, Jānis Čakste was head of state as Chairman of Tautas padome (1918–20) and Speaker of the Constitutional Assembly (1920–22), until he was elected President by the first Saeima on 14 November 1922.
2. Upon Čakste's death, Speaker of the Saeima Pauls Kalniņš was acting president from 14 March 1927 to 8 April 1927.
3. Upon the expiration of Kviesis's term, Prime minister Kārlis Ulmanis illegally merged the Presidency and the Premiership, holding both offices himself. After the Soviet occupation Prime Minister Augusts Kirhenšteins was the illegitimate Acting President from 21 July to 25 August 1940
4. After the restoration of Latvian independence, speaker of the Latvian parliament Anatolijs Gorbunovs was acting president from 21 August 1991 to 8 July 1993.
5. Bērziņš is not a member of parties forming the Union of Greens and Farmers, however he ran for the Saeima from their list and was a member of their parliamentary group at the time of his election.

References

1. "Miljonārs Bērziņš netic, ka Latvijā valda nabadzība". tvnet.lv. 4 November 2012. (Latvian)
2. "President of Latvia by Baltic Legal; Part of Constitution - The president". Baltic Legal. Retrieved 2013-03-14.