Results of the 14th Saeima elections held on October 1, 2022. Part 1

Although the elections to the 14th Saeima are nominally planned only after more than a year, we can already talk about their results, because in Latvia the construction of the load-bearing structures of the political system has been fully completed. This means that only insignificant, cosmetic changes are possible in the future.

It should be noted here that this structure does not stand out with the strength of reinforced concrete. Therefore, in case of strong internal or external shocks, it may fall down like a house of cards. At the beginning of this year, for a moment, it even seemed that it was about to happen. The loudest opposition MPs had already threatened the coalition MPs that they will not be in the next Saeima. But the coalition persevered and is now behaving as if they had been given power from God like monarchs of the past or dictators of today. If no giant shocks occur, then the current order can keep working for a long time. That is, ten and more years. It is true that a completely unexpected arrival of black swans, which would disrupt the entire existing system, cannot be ruled out, but this would already be a case of force majeure.

So, what characterizes the new political system? First, the absolute transition from classical democracy to postmodern governance of performative democracy. In other words, all the elements of democracy are preserved, but on closer inspection, these elements are no longer real. They have been quietly replaced by simulacra. Much like, say, the expensive phone body that was once made of thin metal, but now it is replaced by plastic, which at first cannot be distinguished from real metal.

This replacement of elements of democracy is most evident in the gradual transformation of the public media into government public relations offices. This has been achieved through both direct and indirect bribery. Let's start with the second - indirect bribery. Until recently, giving public awards to socio-political journalists was considered to be in bad taste. It just looked too much like media corruption. At one point, however, they tried giving out awards, and it was suddenly revealed that it caused almost no outrage about the non-compliance with the "correct" order of things.

No one mentions the Swedish Minister, Laila Freivalds, who until recently was mentioned whenever a shadow of doubt fell over someone as to whether they had not violated one of the high democratic standards. Have you taken your child to school by state-owned car or ordered a birthday cake from the ministry's budget? Journalists are now being awarded crosses of recognition and three-star orders in bulk, and that doesn't bother anyone. Like the fact that, as a rule, there is no one among these journalists who would obstruct the construction of the political building that is being successfully completed right now.

But without this indirect bribery, there is also direct. Currently, those working in public media are not only better paid but also more socially secure. As Lauris Lizbovskis, a commercial television sports journalist who has just been fired, revealed on social networks: he has not taken vacation leave for 20 years. This means that all these years he has worked on the basis of a royalties agreement, which does not actually provide any social guarantees. Funding for public media has grown significantly in recent years, and so have the salaries of those working there. For commercial media, on the other hand, the Internet age has taken away a considerable part of advertising money, which leaves an impact on the income of those working there.

The widespread belief that television and radio are rapidly losing influence today (not to mention the print media), as opposed to social networks and Internet resources (first and foremost, Youtube), needs to be addressed here. Many even claim that nowadays social networks are the main tool by which politicians can achieve their desire to be heard, understood and elected by the public.

I do not find this view convincing, because the flow of information is not equal. The same opinion has a very different weight based on whether it's aired on public television or broadcast on Facebook. I would use an analogy here that everyone can dress the way they want and wear what they want, but the overall fashion is anyway determined by the big fashion houses in Paris, Milan and New York. The same is true with social networks and Youtube. There, every politician can publish whatever they want, but the general "right" view is determined by "Central Television", no matter what it is called in each country. One could also mention here various supposedly non-governmental information structures, which receive money not directly from the budget, but through various funds, and also (oh, what a surprise!) perform the functions of government mouthpieces.

But let us return to our new political system. One of the elements of this fake or performative democracy, which ensures its functional stability, is the element of the game, which also includes the observance of mutual interests and the maintenance of the balance of power. Until now, the presence of Aivars Lembergs on the political stage did not allow to bring to life a stable and full-fledged fake democracy. Now that Lembergs has been removed from the stage and is in prison, the last obstacle to set the political system in stone has been removed.

Lembergs' excessive ambition and arrogance played a bad joke on him. He (let's not discuss whether with or without reason) considered himself a superior politician, better than all those other ones, and was by no means ready to sing along with everyone else. But the basis of performative democracy is the readiness of all the actors (proudly called politicians) of this theater to play in one performance, where everyone is prepared for their role. For one - a liberal, for another - a nationalist, for a third - a conservative, for a fourth - a fighter against corruption, for a fifth - a fighter against the establishment, etc.

Within your role, you can say what you want, but overall you have to keep the general line. Therefore, the questions often asked, for example, to Jānis Iesalnieks, who is active in social networks, look a little strange: why don't you (meant - strict nationalists) strongly oppose this or that government decision that contradicts the position of the NA? What should Iesalnieks respond in such cases? One can mumble something about the coalition agreement, but it is not just about that. You just can't go against the general line, because then you fall out of the "nomenclature" of the system, but Iesalnieks can't afford to say that.

The main point of performative democracy is to ensure the stable long-term power of certain political groups or, more broadly, classes. An essential element in ensuring this stability is performative political change. New parties are created with each election, which, when they meet in the Saeima and join the power games of the old parties, rapidly lose the confidence of the voters. This apparent variability allows the ruling political class to maintain the same fake political intrigue, which not only causes the politically active part of society to seethe but also, more importantly, preserves the illusions of the system's opponents (say, such opponents as Didzis Šmits or Linda Liepiņa) that the situation can be changed within the existing system. At the same time, the ruling political class, without the slightest shyness, co-opts the most capable people from the original opposition and allows them to enjoy the privileges of falling into the "nomenclature".

Since in the Internet age, people's attention should not be taken for too long and the length of articles should be such that it can be read in no more than five minutes, the results of the 14th Saeima elections, the main task (goal) of these elections and the mechanism by which this goal will be reached will be published in Monday's edition of Neatkarīgā.

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