Development/For!

Development/For!
Attīstībai/Par!
AbbreviationAP!
Chairman
Founded20 April 2018 (2018-04-20)
Dissolved25 November 2022 (2022-11-25) (de facto)
HeadquartersTorņa iela 4, III-C 101, Riga
Ideology
Political positionCentre to centre-right
European Parliament groupRenew Europe
Members
Colours  Yellow
Website
attistibaipar.lv

Development/For! (Latvian: Attīstībai/Par!, AP!) was a liberal political alliance in Latvia.[2][3] It was formed in 2018 and was composed of Movement For! (Par), For Latvia's Development (LA) and Izaugsme.[4]

The alliance embraced a centrist position,[3][5] and was variously described as social-liberal[6][7][8] and classical-liberal views.[9] It is orientated towards pro-Europeanism, and it states "a modern and just Latvia within a united Europe" as its main goal.[10] The two main components of the alliance, LA and Par, are both member parties of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) party. The alliance was led by its co-chairmen, Daniels Pavļuts, member of Saeima and the leader of Par, and Juris Pūce, Minister for Environmental Protection and Regional Development and the leader of LA.

In the 2018 parliamentary election it placed fourth by winning 13 seats in Saeima.[11] From January 2019 the alliance participated in the first Kariņš cabinet, holding seven ministerial positions including Artis Pabriks's being appointed Deputy Prime Minister. In the 2019 European Parliament election, the alliance received one of the eight seats allocated to Latvia, with the frontrunner of the list, political scientist Ivars Ijabs being elected. Ijabs was at that time not a member of any of the parties making up the alliance, although he announced that he would represent the ALDE party.[12] Ijabs as well as deputy prime minister and defence minister Artis Pabriks joined For Latvia's Development in October 2019.

In the 2020 Riga City Council snap election, the alliance ran on a common electoral list with the centre-left Progressives, which won the election with 26 percent of the vote and received 18 seats, seven of which were won by AP! candidates from all parties except Growth. Movement For! member Mārtiņš Staķis became mayor until his resignation in 2023.

Gradually, years of being in government – both on a national and municipal scale – in the midst of a pandemic and cabinet infighting eroded much of the alliance’s voter base, as one author puts it.[13] After disappointing results from the 2022 parliamentary election, in which the alliance failed to return its parliamentary seats, the alliance was technically dissolved, though it remains registered to maintain state funding under the legal name of PLI (an abbreviation of the initials of the names of the former constituent parties).[14][13]

  1. ^ "Party board nominates Ivars Ijabs as acting chair of 'Latvijas attīstībai'". Development/For!. 16 November 2020. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  2. ^ Nordsieck, Wolfram (2018). "Latvia". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 30 March 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Harmony still leads in Euro election polls despite taint of scandal". eng.lsm.lv. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  4. ^ "Nodibināta apvienība "Attīstībai/Par!", priekšvēlēšanu kampaņas starts 26.aprīlī". Attīstībai Par. 20 April 2018. Archived from the original on 7 October 2018. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  5. ^ "Ambitious contenders from Croatia's Left: Možemo wins Zagreb". openDemocracy. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  6. ^ "New political party The Movement For! established in Latvia". The Baltic Times. 30 August 2017.
  7. ^ Reģistrējoties teju 300 biedriem nodibina partiju Kustība Par!. tvnet.lv. Accessed on 27 February 2018.
  8. ^ Kjetil Duvold; Sten Berglund; Joakim Ekman (2020). Political Culture in the Baltic States: Between National and European Integration. Springer Nature. p. 62. ISBN 978-3-030-21844-7.
  9. ^ "Parliamentary elections in Latvia: the fragmentation of the political scene". Centre for Eastern Studies. 10 October 2018.
  10. ^ "Development/For! party platform" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  11. ^ "13. SAEIMAS VĒLĒŠANAS". sv2018.cvk.lv. Archived from the original on 6 October 2018. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  12. ^ "MEPs react to election results". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 27 May 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  13. ^ a b Kramer, Samuel (25 October 2022). "The Short, (Un)happy Life of Development/For! – What It Can Teach Liberalism Europe-wide - Foreign Policy Research Institute". www.fpri.org. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  14. ^ "Politisko partiju apvienības "Attīstībai/Par!" valdes paziņojums - Attīstībai/Par!" (in Latvian). 25 November 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2023.