Venice Commission - Report on Bicameralism

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Latvia

1.Has the country ever had a bicameral parliamentary (or congressional) system in the past? If so, in which period? Why was it decided to change into a unicameral system? Is there a public debate about changing to a bicameral system? What are the terms of the debate?

The Republic of Latvia has always had a unicameral parliament (Constitutional Assembly (Satversmes sapulce) in 1920-1922 and Parliament (Saeima) in 1922-1934 and 1993-now) and there have never been serious debates concerning a change to a bicameral system.

2.What is the population of the country? What is its size?

According to the most recent census, on 1 January 2021 there were 1 893 223 inhabitants in Latvia. The area of the Republic of Latvia is 64 589 km2.

3.What form of state and form of government has the country? Please provide details with reference to relevant constitutional provisions. a) Unitarian or federal/regional/other form of decentralization; b) Parliamentary, presidential, semi-presidential or mixed

a) Unitarian or federal/regional/other form of decentralisation

Latvia is a unitarian state. Pursuant to Article 3 of the Constitution,1 Latvia consists of four historically ethnographic regions – Vidzeme, Latgale, Kurzeme, and Zemgale (see also para. 37 of the judgment of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia of 29 November 2007 in case no. 2007-10-01022). However, this division does not have any impact with respect to the form of the state and is mostly of symbolic significance (with a few practical effects, such as the drawing up of electoral districts and delineating the geographical jurisdiction of appeal courts).

b) Parliamentary, presidential, semi-presidential or mixed

Latvia is a parliamentary state.

4.How many members are in the lower house?

The only house of the Latvian Parliament consists of 100 Members of Parliament (Article 5 of the Constitution).