The majority of Saeima deputies on Thursday did not support the appointment of Janis Siksnis as a member of the Council of Public Electronic Media (COESMI). Thus, the parliament rejected the second of the candidates proposed by the council of the memorandum of cooperation between non-governmental organizations and the Cabinet of Ministers.
Most factions of the Saeima had already stated that they would not support Siksnis in the parliamentary vote.
Siksnis received 34 votes in favor, 38 against, and nine abstained. The votes in favor of Siksnis came from the members of 'New Unity', 'Progressives', and the opposition party 'For Stability', who had previously stated that they would not vote for Siksnis.
Against Siksnis's appointment voted the members of the Union of Greens and Farmers, the opposition parties 'United List', National Alliance, and 'Latvia First'. A significant portion of the members of the Union of Greens and Farmers did not vote.
As stated by deputy Gatis Liepiņš ('New Unity'), this situation arose due to the procedure where one group nominates a person, and another group approves them. "You cannot blame the deputies for their decisions," said Liepiņš.
In the future, consideration should be given to how to approve candidates for the Council of Public Electronic Media (COESMI). "It would be better if there were an open competition," said Liepiņš, "then we could choose the best ourselves."
Edvins Šnore accused Siksnis of the continued use of the Russian language in public media in Latvia. His colleague Nauris Puntulis also accused Siksnis of having the wrong position on the issue of the Russian language.
Earlier, another member of COESMI, Una Klapkalne, sent a letter to the faction leaders urging them not to approve Siksnis as the third member of the council.
Siksnis was recognized as the best candidate in a re-organized competition for this position.
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