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Surfing the anti-vaxxer wave, a Latvian “serial politician” tries, tries again
The “serial politician” in the headline, Ainārs Šlesers, has also been a “serial entrepreneur”, actually a semi-praiseworthy description, since it involves, often, a blend of success and failure, moving on from setbacks with the “try, try again” mentality.
Šlesers’ presence at two recent anti-vaxxer and covid-skeptic rallies can be seen as the kickoff of his campaign, yet again with a new Latvia First party, to become Prime Minister of the Baltic nation in elections to be held in the fall of 2022 — unless his demands for the immediate resignation of Latvia’s entire political elite are met within weeks.
The anti-vaxxer rally on the shore of the Daugava River near the Old Town of the Latvian capital Riga on September 18 was called by the former and now again aspiring politician, who apparently sponsored a professionally made video circulating on the internet and demanding nothing less than the dismissal of the entire four-party coalition under American-born Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš and the resignation, before the end of his term, of President Egils Levits.
Šlesers, 51, however, stressed to this writer that he and his new party, the fourth in which he has been a founder or leader, were not strict anti-vaxxers, though he objected strongly to the way the…
