It is a peculiarity of Latvian political life that shortly before elections, parties actively recruit popular figures to their lists. Just now, Development/For! (Attīstībai/Par!) has announced that its list will include the well-known doctor Anatolijs Danilāns, the spouse of the former Estonian president Ieva Ilves and the TV actor Andris Lielais, the actor in Solovyov TV who defected from Russia.
At first glance, one might wonder - are these really the people who can pull the party forwards? If the list of people to be invited to the elections is made up of such clearly random people, then the "real" members of the party are apparently not that good. In other words, one would think that such a list-making procedure would only worsen its chances of achieving good results at the polls.
It is no secret that the Development/For! are considered (and there is no reason to think that it’s unfounded) the biggest experts in the Latvian political PR, so it can be assumed that they know what they are doing by now. Since these days the Vidzeme party, with its leader Vents Armands Krauklis at its head, has also been included in the same list, it should be explained that from the point of view of political logic, these are two different cases.
Let us first look at the case of Danilāns, Lielais & Co. Co, because other popular figures might be recruited by the time the lists are submitted. The inclusion of such, often controversial, people in the lists of candidates fulfils several functions. Firstly, it increases the visibility of the list from a PR point of view. In other words, the event is talked about, written about, and the name of the list is thus more likely to reach people's ears and minds. Secondly, these controversial but well-known people will continue to speak out, be quoted, be interviewed (in party advertising) during the election campaign, and thus multiply the PR effect. Thirdly, each of them does have a layer of supporters who could also increase the number of votes cast for the list. However, their main function is different.
When a highly respected person agrees to run on a list, it sends a strong signal to other voters that this is a respected list. This is an extremely important signal, because trust in political parties is obscenely low. According to the SKDS annual survey, political parties are in last place in the institutional trust ranking with 11%. This makes the issue of parties' reputation particularly important for them.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that 70% of people (the figure is quite relative) have a rather superficial interest in politics. They have heard the names of the most popular politicians, they can name the main political parties, but they have not looked into their positions. The programs of these parties are pointless to talk about, because they really mean nothing, at least in Latvian politics. Instead, they have some kind of emotional impression of each of these politicians and parties. Often blurred or based on a single memorable episode.
In all surveys of political parties in Latvia, the undecided "party” has the highest rating. If the 30% who follow political processes and are interested in politics on a daily basis often cannot make up their minds until the last moment which of the ideologically close lists to vote for, for the apolitical part of the electorate "they are all the same" [bad, deceitful, selfish, thinking only of themselves, etc.]. But the 70% who take a passing interest in politics also vote.
It is with this 70% in mind that these popular figures are attracted. If a very likeable doctor like Danilāns has joined a party, it may seem to some that the party in question is made up not only of cynical thieves and russists, as one social media user writes, but decent people.
If the smart Estonian President's equally smart spouse, a cyber-security expert, is added to the list, then this list may already be bringing together not only gambling lobbyists, but also innovative entrepreneurs. So this is a party for which there is no shame in voting, because for a Latvian, shame is one of the main factors in deciding who to vote for.
The accession of Krauklis and the Vidzeme Party to Development/For!, on the other hand, is a different case. This is a highly political decision which significantly strengthens the capacity of the Jaunups/Zuzāns list, not only in the Vidzeme constituency but in the whole country, because Krauklis is essentially a politician on a national scale. His involvement in this political alliance is an undeniable success for Development/For! It is another matter of how this step will affect the future of Krauklis himself and the party he leads, because this already looks very much like a marriage of convenience.
On the other hand, marriages of convenience often turn out to be more stable than marriages of love. Not only in everyday life, but also in politics. The same For Latvia's Development (Latvijas attīstībai) and Movement For! (Kustība Par!) marriage, however incompatible it may have seemed at first, has turned out to be completely stable. No amount of scandals and accusations of an open gambling lobby can undermine this marriage of convenience.
It seems that this marriage of convenience has resulted in an extremely close political family, held together by true love. Love of money and power. This, then, is the love that rules the world. Which is equally important to Jaunups and Lielais, to Zuzāns and Danilāns, to Pūce and Krauklis.