On June 3, the Latvian Parliament chose Raimonds Vejonis to be the new President of Latvia. See this story. He is apparently the first Green Party politician to become head of state of any nation.
On June 3, the Latvian Parliament chose Raimonds Vejonis to be the new President of Latvia. See this story. He is apparently the first Green Party politician to become head of state of any nation.
You just gotta love the Baltic States. Estonia once offered the crown to Prince Edward (now the Earl of Wessex) but he declined. I guess being King of Estonia just didn’t fit with his career plans.
That’s awesome! I ought to tell this little fact to the spoiler theorist Democrats every time they start their shenanigans. It’d be funny to see how they react to a Green becoming president of a country, even if it’s a country with a different election/governing system than ours.
An interesting process. The voting was by secret ballot. Vejonis who is currently the Defense Minister, touted his national security credentials.
Four candidates were running, and none received a majority on the first round. A second round was then held at which time the 4th place candidate was eliminated. The 3rd place candidate was eliminated on the 3rd round. Vejonis failed to receive a majority in the two candidate 4th round because of abstentions. He received a majority in the fifth round.
My great-grandfather, who came from Riga, used to say that Latvians can do anything.
Actually, the Latvians had another Green for Prime Minister over ten years ago. The Prime Minister was appointed by the President and lasted for less than a year.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indulis_Emsis