Latvia PM wins election

Latvia:.Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis said he would talk to his coalition partners about forming a majority Government on Sunday after a poll win that kept Latvia on the path of IMF-led austerity and eventual euro zone entry.

Dombrovskis and his coalition partners were set to secure 59 percent of the votes in Saturday’s election in the Baltic country, according to results from 882 of 1,013 polling stations. They currently rule as a minority government.

The vote was a triumph for Dombrovskis, who has already steered Latvia through harsh budget cuts and tax rises to meet the terms of a 7.5 billion euro ($10.24 billion) bailout agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the EU.

More austerity awaits the nation of 2.2 million people to reduce the budget deficit on the path to euro entry, which under the IMF and EU deal is targeted for 2014.

“ we will meet the current coalition parties and start negotiations about forming a new government,” Dombrovskis told reporters late on Saturday night.

“The primary coalition model is the existing coalition,” he said, referring to his Unity bloc, the Union of Greens and Farmers and nationalists Everything for Latvia/For Fatherland and Freedom.

Riga, Sunday, Reuters