The choice of the new Auditor General is seen as an agreement on the Constitutional Court

The election of Rolands Irklis, the head of the Public Utilities Commission who was nominated by Development/For! (Attīstībai/Par!) and has close ties to the New Unity (Jaunā Vienotība), to the position of the Auditor General has created confusion among some of the political forces represented in the Saeima and encouraged the development of various conspiracy theories. One of them is that an agreement on a new judge of the Constitutional Court has been made.

“An institution that works very well and has reached such a professional level that this work is appreciated not only by the people of Latvia, but also internationally the work of the State Audit Office is recognized as very, very good. And in this situation, it is incomprehensible why it is necessary to, as they say, change horses and choose another candidate from the sidelines, which, of course, inadvertently suggests that there are some hidden goals, which, unfortunately, neither I nor a large part of Latvian society today has any information on,” wondering why the coalition partners from the New Unity, Development/For! and the National Alliance (Nacionālā apvienība), as well as the opposition party Harmony (Saskaņa), do not want to see in the board of State Audit Office a candidate who has proven his professionalism, said the Speaker of the Saeima of the New Conservative Party (Jaunā konservatīvā partija) Juris Jurašs.

One of the versions, which was already born in the corridors of the Saeima - the parties that supported R. Irklis' candidacy have agreed on the new candidacy of a judge of the Constitutional Court.

Neatkarīgā has already reported that due to the failure of the coalition partners to agree on one candidate for a judge of the Constitutional Court, none of the nominated candidates was elected to the position. Just two of the reasons: conflict of interest between Development/For! (nominated sworn advocate Inese Nikuļceva) and New Unity (nominated Saeima deputy and lawyer Inese Lībiņa-Egnere) and the reluctance of the New Conservative Party, which had not nominated any candidate, to see a “too” liberal-minded judge in the Constitutional Court. Both candidates are associated with this socio-political position.

However, when asked whether the discussion on the candidate for the Constitutional Court has already started, the representatives of the parties say that there is enough time left for it - until February 11 - and the discussion has not started.

Krišjānis Feldmans, the deputy chairman of the Conservative faction, expresses hope that this time the coalition parties will be able to agree on one candidate. "If everyone were to nominate their candidate once again, it seems to me that this would not be a quality political process," says the representative of the political force that had not previously nominated its candidate to the Constitutional Court.

At the same time, R. Feldmans expresses incomprehension that Harmony, by voting for the new Auditor General, has acted contrary to their own statements. Namely, Jānis Urbanovičs, the leader of Harmony, previously stated that the group under his leadership will carefully listen to the opinion of the leaving head of the State Audit Office Elita Krūmiņa, and she expressed unequivocal support to her colleague, Director of the Audit Department Ilze Grīnhofa.

In the debate before the election of the Auditor General, Ivars Zariņš, who defends the opinion of Harmony, points out that E. Krūmiņa is to blame for the election result, as she nominated two candidates instead of one for the position of the head of the institution. By voting for a candidate who did not work for the State Audit Office, Harmony tried not to offend any of E. Krūmiņa's nominees, at the same time, acknowledging their professionalism, giving them the opportunity to continue cultivating the quality of the institution's work.

Union of Greens and Farmers (Zaļo un Zemnieku Savienība), in turn, points out that the New Unity has shown signs a few days before the vote that it will support Edgars Korčagins, a member of the State Audit Office nominated by KPV LV, but its deputies have done the opposite.