289. Some faces stay with you forever

Certain faces immediately catch your eye for their beauty, grace, confidence, and poise. Such faces cannot be erased from your memory. 

And when Evika Silina was appointed Latvia's prime minister in September 2023, leading a three-party coalition government, something like that happened to me. Obviously, the most striking features were her beauty and her piercing eyes. Her conduct, both in her physical presence and in her speeches, serves as a model for politicians worldwide. 

I can say this because, since the day she took over, I have been following her government, Latvia's politics, and its rich culture. Two other facts that attracted me were that it is home to more than 12,500 rivers, and that Latvia ranks first in the world for women's rights, with more than 56% of leading positions held by women.

Silina’s government has consistently supported Ukraine in its conflict with Russia. Latvia, along with Lithuania and Estonia, is increasingly anxious about the possibility of Russian aggression. 

However, Evika Siliņa resigned due to her government’s response to Ukrainian drones that entered Latvian airspace from Russia. 

She dismissed her Defense Minister, Andris Spruds, following two drone crashes in eastern Latvia. In response, Spruds's Progressive party withdrew its support from Silina's governing coalition.

Silina said that Latvia allocates 5% of its GDP to national defense, which she described as involving a "much higher level of responsibility toward society... that requires clear results."

Although Latvia and Ukraine both acknowledged that the drones might have been Ukrainian UAVs intended to target Russia, their signals were jammed, causing them to stray into Latvia. 

This resignation caused her coalition government to collapse just months before the October elections. Personally, I found it disappointing. 

Latvia, situated in northern Europe's Baltic area, borders Russia to the east, Belarus to the southeast, and has a maritime boundary with Sweden to the west. The country has a population of 1.83 million, with its capital and main city being Riga. 

Russians form the largest minority, accounting for almost a quarter of the population, and 37.7% of residents speak Russian as their first language. 

Latvia declared independence in 1918 after separating from the Russian Empire following World War I. During World War II, it was forcibly annexed by the Soviet Union, invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany in 1941, and reoccupied by Soviet forces in 1944, after which it became the Latvian SSR for 45 years. 

The peaceful Singing Revolution led to the restoration of independence on 21 August 1991. 

A member of the European Union and NATO, Latvia is a developed country with an advanced economy, ranked 39th on the Human Development Index. 

Latvia is a representative democracy with universal suffrage, and its parliament, the Saeima, elects 100 members. Parliamentary elections are held at least once every four years. The Saeima has often been governed by coalition governments.

Siliņa's government was a three-party coalition between her own New Unity (JV) party, the Greens and Farmers Union (ZZS), and the social-democratic Progressives (PRO), with a total of 52 of 100 seats in parliament. 

I am sure the lady will strike back in October with a decisive majority.