Māris Grīnblats

Māris Grīnblats (born 5 January 1955 in Kuldīga, Latvia) is a Latvian politician for For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK (TB/LNNK).

Grīnblats was a member of the Citizens' Congress, and a leader of the 18th November Union that emerged from it. He became the founding leader of For Fatherland and Freedom (TB), a party that was created from 18th November Union, in 1993.[1] After the 1995 parliamentary election, Grīnblats, as leader of the centre-right 'National Bloc' coalition formed around TB, was asked to become Prime Minister, but, on 23 November, he failed to get the confidence of the Saeima: falling short by one vote.[2] Instead, he became Minister for Education and Science and a Deputy Prime Minister to Andris Šķēle.[3]

During Grīnblats leadership of TB, it merged with Latvian National Independence Movement to form the TB/LNNK, and Grīnblats became the party's first chairman. He remained in that position until 2002, at the beginning of the 8th Saeima, when he became President of the TB/LNNK's faction in the national legislature, the Saeima, which he remained in the 9th Saeima.[1]

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Ortiz de Zárate, Roberto (2009). "Leaders of Latvia". http://www.terra.es/personal2/monolith/latvia.htm. Retrieved 30 July 2010. 
  2. ^ Dawisha, Karen; Parrott, Bruce (1997). The Consolidation of Democracy in East-Central Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 282. ISBN 9780521599382. 
  3. ^ Day, Alan John; East, Roger; Thomas, Richard (2002). A political and Economic Dictionary of Eastern Europe. London: Routledge. p. 213. ISBN 9781857430639. 
Party political offices
New title
Party created by merger of TB and LNNK
Chairman of For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK
1997 – 2002
Succeeded by
Jānis Straume