Without really affecting the number of supporters, Covid created more critics of senior officials

In Latvia, the ratings of political authorities have traditionally tended to fall. Especially in the event of a problem that affects the whole society, such as the challenges posed by Covid-19 and the annoying-for-many restrictions that have been put in place to overcome them. Therefore, it could be expected that the support for decision-makers and representatives of the executive branch in the eyes of the public will fall sharply, but in these crisis conditions, the number of supporters of the legislator - Speaker of the Saeima Ināra Mūrniece - and the executive branch - Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš - has decreased minimally. One could even say the difference is within the statistical error.

According to a study by SKDS commissioned by Neatkarīgā, the proportion of those who positively assess the performance of Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš, who personifies the government, has changed minimally during the Covid crisis. In December 2019, 36% of the population was satisfied with his work, but last December this indicator decreased by only three percentage points.

A different scene can be seen when counting those who are not satisfied with the performance of the Prime Minister. Namely, their share, increasing by 7.9 percentage points, has reached the 50% mark. The largest share of dissatisfied growth is made up of those who have changed their attitude towards the Prime Minister from neutral to negative, and those who have finally over the past year found out who has been running the Latvian government. During the year, the share of those who evaluate the work of the Prime Minister neutrally has decreased by two percentage points, but those who do not recognize the Prime Minister by three.

Saved by his humanity

Political scientist Filips Rajevskis believes that the prime minister's ability to maintain the support of a significant part of society is to be found in his personality, not in the decisions made by the government, whose critics can be found in all sections of society.

"The Prime Minister has one good quality - simplicity when expressing himself. You may or may not like it, but he is simple in his speech, and that is a big plus for politicians. And because he is not a Soviet product, he is also able to generate some signs of empathy in his communication, and I think that is what saves him in this situation when decisions are unpopular and people curse them,” says the political scientist.

Lelde Metla-Rozentāle, a lecturer at the Department of Political Science at Riga Stradins University, also believes that K. Kariņš's ability to retain supporters can be largely explained by his humanity and even being unafraid of revealing his weakness.

"Mr. Kariņš is never arrogant or aggressive in public communication, he leaves a positive, bright image on people.

The Prime Minister embodies the fight with Covid, and we see how hard things are for him. In his address before Christmas, he asked the public for help, not afraid to show his weakness. He is very human, you can take his sentence about friends as an example ["Friends, this is not good", which the Internet comedians played with for a long time] - he addresses us all as friends. We can, of course, laugh at the sentence, but it creates positive reactions, not like what Egils Levits said about the dead who will not have Christmas,” says the expert.

She also points out that K. Kariņš meets many voters' expectations - he understands the people, speaks English, can go to the outskirts of the country and talk to its inhabitants. "He embodies the 'ordinary people' and at the same time is intelligent enough that we do not say that he is too simple to be prime minister," says L. Metla-Rozentāle.

Neutrality and the working capacity of the Saeima

The Speaker of the Saeima Ināra Mūrniece has shown even better abilities to maintain the number of her supporters. During the year, the share of those who positively assessed her activity has decreased by only two percentage points, but the proportion of those who have evaluated it negatively has increased by one percentage point. 33 percent of Latvians evaluate the work of the politician positively, but 38 - negatively. During the year, the number of neutral assessments of I. Mūrniece has decreased by one percentage point, but the number of those who say that they do not recognize the Speaker of the Saeima has increased by two points.

Experts explain the stability of her rating with the successfully managed work of the Saeima in the conditions of a state of emergency, as well as her ability not to attract the media attention.

"Mrs. Mūrniece is simply very neutral. If you are neutral and unnoticeable, it does not irritate people. People are annoyed by bright personalities, but she is very reserved and neutral. Especially in comparison with Solvita Āboltiņa [Speaker of the Saeima from November 2, 2010, to November 4, 2014], who was expressive both in her behavior and image, thus creating both like and dislike in many. Mrs. Mūrniece is neutral, always very proper and calm,” says L. Metla-Rozentāle.

Mrs. Mūrniece's ability not to get into the spotlight of society and the media, which partly explains the stability of her ratings, is also emphasized by F. Rajevskis, but at the same time he draws attention to the fact that

under I. Mūrniece's leadership the parliament did not stop working even during the state of emergency.

"Mūrniece has been able to mostly stay out of sight, and her other - if we look at it from the point of view of the Saeima's work - partial merit is that the Saeima has not been paralyzed in its work, that it has continued to work, it has not stopped and halted decision-making. Laws, administrative-territorial reform, budget. One can criticize or not criticize these decisions, but the Saeima has been able to work. I rely on the intuitive understanding of the society: this assessment is purely good for her, because she has done her job - ensured the work of the Saeima. She is the boss of the people who have to work for the Saeima to function,” F. Rajevskis believes.