No ground for euphoria - Latvian prime minister.

.

RIGA, October 3 (Itar-Tass) -- There is no ground for euphoria, since
a new Latvian government will have to work hard on the country's budget
for the next year, Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis said early on
Sunday commenting on the preliminary results of the October 2
parliamentary elections.
According to preliminary data of the country's Central Election
Commission, the Unity association led by the prime minister is winning the
majority of votes.
"The results are even better than preceding polls showed. It is
pleasing but it multiplies the responsibility," he told the national
television. "There are absolutely no grounds for euphoria - a very hard
work is ahead. We know only too well that it is necessary to work on the
budget for the coming year. And we are ready to work by the sweat of our
brows."
According to the Latvian prime minister, budgetary expenditures are to
be reduced by 350-395 million lats (some 665-751 million U.S. dollars).
Since the ruling coalition has won voter support, it would be
expedient to stick to the current government format, Dombrovskis said and
added that talks on the new composition of the government would be held
with the country's biggest part Harmony Center, which represents the
interests of the Russian-speaking community. "We are sure to negotiate
with all parliamentary parties, including with the Harmony Center. We
already have an experience of finding common language with the Harmony
Center on certain issues. We do not seek to isolate them," he said.

.Russian-speakers not to be represented in Latvia's parliament -
opinion.

RIGA, October 3 (Itar-Tass) -- Latvia's Russian-speaking community
will not be represented in the national parliament if the party For Human
Rights in United Latvia does not win votes enough to exceed the
five-percent barrier, the party's leader and member of the European
parliament Tatiana Zhdanok said late on Saturday.
"If the party wins no parliamentary seats, the Russian-speaking
community will not be represented in the national legislature," she said
in an interview with the national television.
According to Yakov Pliner, the head of the party's parliamentary
faction, no other party will raise the problems of the protection of
rights of the country's Russian-speaking citizens. "Preliminary data of
the exit polls show that will not overcome the five-percent barrier, but
we still hope to. But even if win no parliamentary seats, the life does
not end," he said late on Saturday in an interview with the Baltcom radio
station.
Taking part in the October 2 parliamentary elections were 13 political
parties and associations. A total of 1,234 contenders vied for seats in
the national parliament. There were 949 ballot stations throughout the
country, and 64 more abroad.
Latvia's population is about 2.3 million people, of which 1.6 million
are eligible voters. According to the Central Election Commission, a total
of 934,976 voters, or 62.62 percent, took part in the elections. Under the
national legislation, parliamentary elections are valid regardless of the
voter turnout.
Some 365,000 of the country's residents, Russian-speakers who had been
stripped of the Latvian citizenship after the collapse of the former
Soviet Union, are deprived of the right to vote.
According to exit polls, the leader is the Unity association led by
Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, which has scored 33.49 percent of the
vote. The country's biggest party Harmony Center representing the rights
of the Russian-speaking community has scored 21.84 percent of votes. The
Union of Greens and Farmers, a member of the ruling coalition, has won
19.87 percent of votes. Two more parties include For Better Latvia
association (8.88 percent) and the nationalist association For Fatherland
and Freedom (8.34 percent). The five parties were represented in the
previous parliament.
Another Russian-speaking party, For Human Rights in United Latvia,
which had 5 seats in the previous parliament, has not overcome the
five-percent barrier.

.Ukraine breaks world's borscht cooking record.

KIEV, October 3 (Itar-Tass) -- Ukraine has broken the world record:in
borscht cooking, a representative of the Ukrainian Guinness Book of
Records said on Saturday.
A total of 4,000 litres of borscht were cooked in a five-ton pot in
the settlement of Chubinskoye outside Kiev, the venue of the Golden Autumn
agricultural fair. The record will be reported to the Guinness Book of
World Records.
It took 250 kilograms of cabbage, 90 kilograms of onion, 80 kilograms
of carrot, 140 kilograms of kidney beans, 27 kilograms of salt and various
sorts of meat to cook that much of the traditional Ukrainian dish.
Two more borscht festivals have recently been held in Ukraine's
Vinnitsy and Ternopol regions.
-0-ras


Delete & Prev | Delete & Next