Sawt Falasteen - Latvia gets new centre-right govt after row over stray Ukraine drones

By a margin of 66 deputies in the 100-seat assembly, lawmakers confirmed 47-year-old centrist Andris Kulbergs as prime minister, who will lead the Baltic nation until parliamentary elections on October 3.

Evika Silina resigned as prime minister on May 14 after she fired her defence minister and lost the support of his party, which had been a key coalition ally.

Silina accused the minister of not deploying anti-drone defences fast enough to parry two wayward Ukraine attack drones, which are thought to have been knocked off course by Russian jamming.

The drones caused minimal damage but sparked widespread concern in the former Soviet republic, which is now a member of NATO and the European Union.

Several Russian and Ukrainian drones have crashed in Latvia -- and neighbouring Lithuania and Estonia -- since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has offered to send experts to Latvia to help it boost its air defences.

The new Latvian four-party coalition should enjoy a healthy majority in parliament and pursue a broadly pro-EU, pro-NATO direction. The coalition parties have stressed the need to reinforce the military and the borders of the country of 1.8 million people.

"There is a broad consensus on foreign policy priorities," political scientist Nils Muiznieks told AFP, adding that the new government was also like to keep strong solidarity with Ukraine.

T.Ibrahim--SF-PST