Social Democratic Party "Harmony"

The Social Democratic Party "Harmony" (Latvian: Sociāldemokrātiskā partija "Saskaņa"; Russian: Социал-демократическая партия «Согласие», romanized: Sotsial-demokraticheskaya partiya «Soglasiye», S),[nb 1] also commonly referred to as Harmony (Saskaņa), is a social-democratic political party in Latvia.[1][2][3] It was the largest political party in the Saeima, representing the Russian minority of Latvia,[4] before losing all of its parliamentary seats in the 2022 Latvian parliamentary election. It is currently led by Jānis Urbanovičs.

Social Democratic Party "Harmony"
Sociāldemokrātiskā Partija "Saskaņa"
Социал-демократическая партия «Согласие»
AbbreviationS
ChairmanJānis Urbanovičs
Vice chairmen
See list
Founders
Founded21 November 2009 (21 November 2009)
Registered10 February 2010 (10 February 2010)
Merger of
Preceded byHarmony Centre
HeadquartersJēkaba iela 16, Riga
Youth wingRestart.lv
Membership (2017)3,653
IdeologySocial democracy
Russian minority politics
Political positionCentre-left
National affiliationHarmony Centre
(2009–2014)
European affiliationParty of European Socialists
International affiliationProgressive Alliance
European Parliament groupProgressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
Affiliate partiesSocialist Party of Latvia
Colours  Red
Saeima
0 / 100
European Parliament
2 / 8
Riga City Council
11 / 60
Mayors
0 / 43
Website
saskana.eu

It was founded in 2010 as the merger of the National Harmony Party (TSP) with New Centre (JC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a breakaway from the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party (LSDSP).[5][6] At the time, all three parties were a part of the Harmony Centre coalition, which was also made up of the Socialist Party of Latvia.[7] The Daugavpils City Party merged into Harmony in 2011.[8]

The former chairman of the party, Nils Ušakovs served as the Mayor of Riga from 2009 to 2019,[9] and was Harmony's candidate for the office of Prime Minister of Latvia in 2014. Internationally, "Harmony" is a member of the Progressive Alliance[10][11] and the Party of European Socialists.[12] After the 2014 European Parliament election in Latvia, its sole MEP, Andrejs Mamikins, sat in the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group[12] in the European Parliament.[13] In 2018, after disagreements with Ušakovs, he defected[14] to the Latvian Russian Union, and the party lost its representation in the European Parliament until the 2019 European Parliament election in Latvia, when Ušakovs and his ally, former Vice Mayor of Riga Andris Ameriks (a member of Honor to serve Riga) were elected.[15] In the 2018 Latvian parliamentary election, Harmony won 23 seats, but in the subsequent 2022 Latvian parliamentary election it lost all its seats.

Harmony is positioned on the centre-left on the political spectrum,[4][16][17] although it has taken conservative rhetoric regarding social issues,[18][19][20] while its parliamentary membership is not uniformly socially conservative.[21] It previously had ties with United Russia until 2017,[22] when Harmony joined the Party of European Socialists.[23] It is also a member of the Progressive Alliance.[24] As of 2017, Harmony has 3,653 members,[25] and its youth wing is "Restart.lv".[26]

Election results

Legislative elections
Election Party leader Performance Rank Government
Votes  % ± pp Seats +/–
2010[lower-alpha 1] Jānis Urbanovičs 251,400 26.61 New
24 / 100
 New 2nd Opposition
2011[lower-alpha 2] Nils Ušakovs 259,930 28.62 Increase 2.01
28 / 100
 Increase 4 Increase 1st Opposition
2014 209,887 23.15 Decrease 5.47
24 / 100
 Decrease 4 Steady 1st Opposition
2018 Vjačeslavs Dombrovskis 167,117 19.92 Decrease 3.23
23 / 100
 Decrease 1 Steady 1st Opposition
2022 Ivars Zariņš 43,943 4.86 Decrease 15.06
0 / 100
 Decrease 23 Decrease 9th Extra-parliamentary
  1. Harmony Centre list won 29 seats; 4 went to SPL and 1 to DCP
  2. Harmony Centre list won 31 seats; 3 went to the SPL

European Parliament
Election Leader Votes  % Seats +/–
2014 Boris Tsilevitch 57,863 13.14 (#3)
1 / 8
2019 Nils Ušakovs 82,604 17.56 (#2)
2 / 8
 Increase 1

References
  1. The party officially translates its name as Social Democratic Party "Concord".
  1. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2018). "Latvia". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  2. "Ruling coalition loses its majority in Latvia's general election". euronews. 2018-10-07. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  3. "Safer under the bed: why Latvian politicians mistrust banks". POLITICO. 2016-04-22. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  4. Hanley, Sean L (October 8, 2014). "Latvia's elections: Can there be harmony without Harmony?". University College London. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
  5. Tom Lansford (April 8, 2014). Political Handbook of the World 2014. SAGE Publications. pp. 811–812. ISBN 978-1-4833-3327-4.
  6. "Latvia's 'Harmony' in Jeopardy - Foreign Policy Research Institute". www.fpri.org. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  7. Kaža, Juris (August 14, 2018). "Who is who in upcoming Latvian parliamentary elections". Re:Baltica. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
  8. Daugavpils partija iekļaujas 'Saskaņā'; SC veidos divi spēki
  9. "Ušakovs and Rubiks removed from board of Harmony". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 4 October 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  10. "Parties & Organisations". Progressive Alliance. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  11. "Socialist International - Progressive Politics For A Fairer World". Socialist International. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  12. "Saskaņa joins Party of European Socialists". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. LETA. November 27, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  13. "Sociāldemokrātiskā Partija Saskaņa". Archived from the original on 2015-11-03. Retrieved 2015-11-03.
  14. "MEP about Riga Mayor's desires: maybe all three of his wives should be given jobs?". Baltic News Network. May 28, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  15. "Riga's ex-mayor and ex-vice-mayor receive posts in EP committees". Baltic News Network. July 4, 2019. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  16. "Harmony most popular political party in Latvia in June". baltictimes.com. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  17. "Latvia: Major Political Earthquake in Riga Elections". Europe Elects. 2020-08-31. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  18. "Opposition Saskaņa party reveals economist and preacher as spearheads". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. June 18, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  19. "Saeima approves lessons in 'constitutional morality' for schoolchildren". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. June 18, 2015. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  20. "Putina bērni". Re:Baltica (in Latvian). Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  21. "Parliament of Latvia rejects petition for partnership legislation". ILGA-Europe. July 1, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  22. "Latvia's Harmony party: no plans to end agreement with Putin's United Russia". The Baltic Times. January 22, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  23. "Saskaņa quietly ditches Putin party agreement". Rīta Panorāma. Public Broadcasting of Latvia. October 9, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  24. "Socialist International - Progressive Politics For A Fairer World". Socialist International. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  25. Klūga, Māris (January 3, 2018). "What's up with Latvia's feeble civic engagement?". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  26. Saskaņa dibina jauniešu organizāciju «Restart.lv»; žurnālistus izraida no sanāksmes (in Latvian), TV NET (www.tvnet.lv), retrieved on March 13, 2015
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