Covid-19 pandemic impacts Latvia’s Prime Minister, government and parliament

The impact of the global covid-19 pandemic took a strange turn in the Baltic country of Latvia on March 21 when one member of the country’s parliament was found to be infected, forcing Latvia’s Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš, ruling political party leaders, government ministers and almost all of the 100-member legislature to self-isolate for 14 days.

The incident makes Kariņš the first European head of government to undertake self-isolation and possibly makes Latvia’s parliament or Saeima the first legislature in Europe to face disruption of its functions until its members are proven free of the covid-19 virus or sit out 14 days of self-isolation.

Kariņš told Latvian TV that he had planned to hold government meetings remotely anyway starting the week of March 23 but holding debates and votes in the Saeima may be a challenge. Latvian President Egils Levits, a trained lawyer and former judge of the European Court of Justice told local media that under the circumstances, the Latvian Constitution, drafted in 1922, would permit remote or virtual meetings or votes by the legislature.

The infected Saeima deputy Artuss Kaimiņš, met last week with members of Latvia’s so-called coalition council, where representatives of the country’s five ruling parties hash out policy issues to be put before the parliament or Saeima. He also attended a meeting of the full Saeima. All persons in contact with Kaimiņš in his role as a politician or privately…