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Latvia is not expected to shift its pro-Europe and pro-Ukraine trajectory, but coalition negotiations could be complex.

Polls have opened in Latvia for an election taking place against the backdrop of perceived security threats from Russia and a nationwide cost-of-living squeeze.

Saturday’s vote is the first electoral test for Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs after coming to power in May this year when his predecessor resigned due to a backlash from stray drone incursions from Ukraine.

Kulbergs, whose right-wing United List party is currently polling at about 20 percent, is expected to hold onto his position, but the decline of two allies in his current coalition means he is set for a complicated negotiation over the makeup of any future government.

Polls opened at 05:00 GMT and will close at 17:00 GMT. The results are not expected to change Latvia’s pro-European and pro-Ukrainian course.

About 1.5 million people are eligible to vote in the country’s 11th parliamentary election since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Latvian politics are highly fragmented, with parties rarely seeing above 20 percent vote share and coalitions being the norm.

This year, 14 electoral lists are contesting the election, but polls indicate only seven are likely to enter parliament, with the rest expected to fail to meet the minimum 5 percent vote threshold.

Rising living costs, low wages, strains on the healthcare system and long-term population decline have all featured prominently in campaign debates.

Fragmented political parties

Most parties in Latvia are pro-Ukraine; however, the populist Sovereign Power party – which says it wants Ukraine to win but argues money spent supporting Kyiv would be better spent at home – looks likely to become the country’s second-biggest party, with more than 9 percent of the vote. Most other parties have ruled out forming a coalition with Sovereign Power.

Latvia First, a pro-Ukraine and populist nationalist party currently polling at about 9 percent, could be a potential coalition partner for PM Kulbergs.

The Progressives, a pro-European social democratic party, are polling at 6 percent.

Ethnic Russians make up roughly one in four Latvian citizens, but their vote, which has traditionally been cast along identity-based lines, looks set to be made according to economic and social issues.

Latvia is the poorest of the Baltic states, and it has sharply increased its defence spending since Russia invaded Ukraine, now allocating nearly 5 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) to defence.

ROCKERS Liam and Noel Gallagher have teased yet another tour location in a cryptic new video – and fans are convinced they’ve guessed it.

But, can you guess where too?

The legendary band, Oasis, reformed in 2024 after the long-feuding brothers split up in 2009.

Over the past few weeks, Liam and Noel, 59, have dropped a string of cryptic videos, leaving fans scratching their heads.

The clips have confirmed another tour is coming in 2027 and left viewers scrambling to decode the gig locations after their reunion success last year.

Taking to X, the brothers shared a short clip of a European-looking side street.

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Two girls on a red Vespa then come zooming down the alley and it’s once again left silent.

Of course, fans immediately began dissecting the video in the comments and most came to the same conclusion – Rome.

One fan wrote: ” Rome. The area looks like Trastevere. Other clues: Red scooter and yellow headlight = AS Roma colours.

“Rider 1 in light blue & blue helmet = Lazio colours. Rider 2 in the Italian flag helmet.”

Sharing a snap that looked very similar to the video location, another fan said: “Stayed in Trastevere in Rome last week and it looks like the same area.”

A third fan added: “Pretty sure I’ve walked down that exact street in Rome.”

Just yesterday, Liam, 53 and Noel, teased another upcoming tour location with a subtle nod to a moment that happened around the group’s original split.

In the clip, a man wearing a leather jacket took out a plum from a paper bag and began eating it.

Soon after this, he lobbed the plum away somewhere off camera, into the distance.

It cheekily references Noel previously telling how – during a heated 2009 argument at the Rock en Seine Festival in Paris the time of his Oasis departure – Liam threw a plum at him.

Fans were convinced the clip hinted at a France tour date – with references to “Rock en Seine” and “Au Marché” visible.

Back in June, The Sun exclusively revealed that Oasis will returning to the stage next year with a record-breaking run of six concerts at Knebworth and a 12-date residency at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester.