By Janis Laizans
TALLINN, May 16 (Reuters) – Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics on Saturday proposed opposition lawmaker Andris Kulbergs as the next prime minister after Evika Silina resigned.
Silina said on Thursday she was stepping down, triggering the collapse of her coalition just months before an election due in October.
Kulbergs, from United List of smaller parties – the largest opposition bloc in parliament – will take office if lawmakers approve him and his cabinet.
“Considering recent events, I think the new prime minister should come from opposition parties,” Rinkevics told a press conference.
Silina dismissed Defence Minister Andris Spruds last weekend after two Ukrainian drones strayed into Latvia from Russia and exploded at an oil storage facility, the latest in a series of such incidents in NATO members Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.
The Latvian army said it failed to detect the drones as they crossed from Russia. Silina blamed Spruds for not developing anti-drone systems quickly enough.
In response, Spruds’ Progressives party withdrew support from Silina’s government on Wednesday, leaving her without a parliamentary majority and exposed to a no-confidence vote.
(Reporting by Janis Laizans. Writing by Andrius Sytas. Editing by Louise Heavens and Mark Potter)
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