Electoral system for national legislature

Constitution 1922 (last amended in 2009)

Chapter II. The Saeima

5. The Saeima shall be composed of one hundred representatives of the people.

6. The Saeima shall be elected in general, equal and direct elections, and by secret ballot based on proportional representation.

7. In the division of Latvia into separate electoral districts, provision for the number of members of the Saeima to be elected from each district shall be proportional to the number of electors in each district.

The Saeima Election Law 1995 (last amended in 2006)

Article 8

(1) The Central Election Commission shall determine the number of seats in the Saeima in proportion to the number of voters in a constituency as stated four months before Election Day according to the data provided by the Population Register. If the Saeima elections take place according to Article 48 of the Constitution, the number of seats is decided on the day when the elections are announced. Voters residing in foreign countries are included among voters of the Riga constituency.

(2) The number of members in the Saeima to be elected from each constituency shall be calculated in the following way:

1) the total number of voters shall be divided by 100;

2) the number of voters in each constituency shall be divided by the figure obtained from the division according to Paragraph 2, Point 1 of this Article. The whole numbers obtained in this way shall indicate the number of Saeima members to be elected in each constituency;

3) if the sum of the whole numbers obtained from the division according to Paragraph 2, Point 2, is less than 100, the number of seats shall be increased by one, first in the constituency where the result shows the largest fraction, then in the constituency with the next largest fraction, and so on until the sum total of the whole numbers is 100;

4) if any two constituencies show an equal result in fractions, the number of seats shall be first increased in the constituency where the result of the division according to Paragraph 2, Point 2, is the smallest whole number;

5)  if any two constituencies show an equal result both in fractions and whole numbers, lots shall be drawn to determine which constituency will have an increased number of seats in the Saeima.

(3) The number of seats in each of the constituencies shall be published in the newspaper “Latvijas Vēstnesis” not later than 100 days before Election Day; if the Saeima elections take place according to Article 48 of the Constitution, the announcement shall be published not later than 50 days before Election Day.