Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina resigned this Thursday, a day after her coalition government — formed by the premier’s party New Unity (JV), the centrist Alliance of Greens and Farmers (ZZS), and the social-democratic Progressives (Pro) — lost its parliamentary majority following the crisis caused by the impact of two Ukrainian drones diverted into an energy infrastructure. It was precisely the Progressives who withdrew from the coalition, causing the government to break up, so everything points to the country having to start a consultation process this Friday to form a new executive.
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“Today [this Thursday] I have made a difficult but honest decision: to resign from the position of prime minister. My priority now and always has been the well-being and security of the people of Latvia. Parties and coalitions change, but Latvia remains. And my responsibility to society is above all,” she stated in a statement released on social media.
Šodien esmu pieņēmusi smagu, bet godīgu lēmumu – atkāpties no Ministru prezidentes amata.
Mana prioritāte tagad un vienmēr ir bijusi Latvijas cilvēku labklājība un drošība. Partijas un koalīcijas mainās, bet Latvija paliek. Un mana atbildība sabiedrības priekšā ir pāri visam.…
— Evika Siliņa 🇱🇻🇺🇦 (@EvikaSilina) May 14, 2026
The prime minister explained that “political envy and the narrow interests of the parties have taken precedence over responsibility.” “The political charlatans chose not a solution but a crisis,” she said referring to the coalition breakup.
“I have always behaved responsibly with my coalition partners. However, my responsibility to society is even greater. I led this government because people needed stability. I kept very different political forces united because my task was to ensure the country moved forward,” Silina said, while thanking “those who trusted, collaborated, and rightly criticized.” “I am stepping down but not giving up. I am not leaving,” she concluded.
Andris Suvajevs, co-chair of Pro, until now one of the tripartite allies, had already called on Wednesday for the resignation of the head of the executive after meeting with her to seek, unsuccessfully, a solution. Shortly after, the leader of ZSS, Harijs Rokpelnis, stated that the executive had fallen. “Either Evika Silina simply announces her resignation, after having lost the trust of society, or the Saeima [the Latvian Parliament] ends all this with a vote of no confidence,” Suvajevs told the media in Riga at the time.
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The breakup of the government coalition, now joined by Silina’s resignation, occurs just five months before the next legislative elections, scheduled for October.
Suvajevs, who is the social-democratic party’s candidate for those elections, said the prime minister has “overthrown her own government” and that now the executive is “unable to act.”
This Friday, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics is expected to meet with all groups represented in Parliament to address the current political crisis the country is going through.
Ukrainian drones
The executive crisis broke out last weekend, when two Ukrainian drones, apparently under the effect of Russian electronic warfare measures, were diverted and entered Latvian airspace, where they caused an explosion by crashing into an empty oil depot in Rezekne, 60 kilometers from the Russian border.
Silina held the then Defense Minister, social democrat Andris Spruds, responsible for the failure to intercept the devices, and forced his resignation on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Pro party denounced that the prime minister had not informed them of her intention to dismiss the Defense Minister and to politicize a military issue, thereby discrediting the Armed Forces.