Latvian referendum. The majority of citizens are against Russian as the second state language.
At the referendum held in Latvia, the majority of citizens voted against the Russian language as the second state language. According to the data compiled by the CEC, currently obtained from the 653 polling stations (1035 was opened in total), 77,75% voted against the constitutional amendments.As ITAR-TASS news agency reported yesterday, 21,98% of citizens were in favor of introducing Russian as the second state language in Latvia. Another 0,27% of ballots turned out to be invalid. The end of the processing of preliminary results of the referendum is planned for today.
The Latvian President A. Berzins, the Prime Minister V. Dombrovskis and the Speaker of the Seimas S. Aboltini voted against the fact that the Russian language would receive the status of the second state.
The Native Language Society, which initiated the referendum, however, assesses the voting results as a victory. Hilarion Girs, one of the representatives of the organization, said: “The referendum rallied the Russian-speaking community of the republic. Now we are waiting for a response from the second side. If the answer is adequate and there is a suggestion for dialogue, readiness to reconsider the status of the Russian language and solve the problem of education, this will be a good signal. If not, we will continue to protest. ”
According to Vladimir Linderman, one of the initiators of the referendum held, about three hundred thousand Latvians should vote in support of the Russian language. This, of course, will not be enough to give the Russian language the status of a second state, but Russian-speaking residents of the country will continue to fight for their rights. Linderman said that everything will be within the law, but the struggle will continue.
As previously reported, a referendum was held on Saturday in Latvia on granting Russian the status of a second state language. The referendum was attended by 69,23% of citizens, that is, 1.069.759 residents of the country. Nine hundred and fifty polling stations were opened on the territory of the republic, and in addition, eighty-five were involved abroad. The voters were asked to answer the question: “Are you in favor of adopting the draft law“ Amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia ”, which provides for establishing the status of a second state for the Russian language?” The voter could choose one of two answer options: “For” or “Against”.
The referendum was held in a calm atmosphere, without incident. There were no significant violations.
The initiative to hold this referendum was the Native Language Society. The referendum proposal was a response to the actions of the Latvian radicals who organized a collection of signatures for translating all state Russian schools into the Latvian language of instruction. In December last year, the Latvian Diet by a majority vote opposed granting Russian the status of a second state, but regardless of this decision, this issue should have been put up for a referendum. In order for Russian to become the second state language, over 770 thousand citizens (half of the voters) had to vote “For”.
More than two million people live in Latvia. Russian-speaking population is about forty percent. It should be noted that about 320 thousands of "non-citizens" had no right to participate in the referendum: after the separation of Latvia from the Soviet Union, they were deprived of citizenship, and at the same time the right to vote.
Information