August 15, 2010
A new online and print publication, aimed at informing Latvians abroad about the upcoming parliamentary election in the homeland, has been unveiled by a group in Sweden.
Titled Desmitnieks—a reference to the Oct. 2 election for the 10th Saeima—the publication is backed by the Latvian Aid Committee of Sweden (Zviedrijas Latviešu palīdzības komiteja) and is edited by Austra Krēsliņa.
Desmitnieks will be short-lived. One issue per week, starting Aug. 16, is promised up to the election, and then one or two issues after to provide analysis of voting results. The publication will appear in print as a supplement to the European exile newspaper Brīvā Latvija and online at www.desmitnieks.lv, Krēsliņa told Latvians Online in an e-mail.
Each edition, she said, will have the same structure: a focus on a specific issue, a short editorial commentary, a column by an independent author, and an explanation why the issue of the week was chosen.
“The idea is to offer Latvians living abroad independent information,” Krēsliņa said, “with the big goal of getting them to participate in this election and not be apathetic.”
In an editorial commentary, Desmitnieks notes that every vote counts, as has been shown in recent elections in the United States and Germany.
The first issue addressed by Desmitnieks is dual citizenship. Since July 1995, Latvia’s citizenship law does not allow people to become dual nationals. The responses of just five of the 13 political parties and coalitions fielding candidates in the Saeima election are included, with commentary by Nils Muižnieks of the University of Latvia.
The Latvian Aid Committee of Sweden is one of the oldest exile Latvian organizations. Formed in 1943, its initial purpose was to assist refugees from war-torn Latvia.
Andris Straumanis is editor of Latvians Online.
