Convention, benefits, allowances and... the ban on abstaining. What is the public advocating for? 0 380

There is again a surge of activity on the public initiatives portal manabalss.lv. In a short period, specifically within two weeks, over 12,000 signatures from citizens of Latvia were collected to ensure that Latvia does not withdraw from the Istanbul Convention. This initiative was a response to a corresponding bill from the right-wing opposition in the Saeima regarding withdrawal from this convention.

An even greater number of signatures - 16,714 - were gathered for the initiative advocating for stricter measures to protect animals.

These two public initiatives will soon be submitted to the Saeima, as they have even surpassed the minimum required threshold (10,000) for parliamentary consideration.

It can be expected that by the end of the year, the necessary 10,000 signatures will also be collected for the proposal to introduce a 50% tax allowance for women who have given birth to a second child. If a woman has three or more children, the authors of the initiative propose to exempt her from income tax altogether.

So far, the important initiative to increase allowances for people with severe disabilities has collected very few signatures. Incredible but true - the allowance amount is 213.43 euros and has not changed since 2009!

The public remains indifferent to yet another attempt to ban deputies from abstaining during voting. After all, it is the right of a deputy to vote "for," "against," "abstain," or not participate in the voting at all.