LATVIA: Latvian voters have elected a new young leader to tackle corruption and lead the country into NATO and the EU.
The New Era party, led by the 41-year-old former central banker Mr Einars Repse, captured nearly a quarter of the vote at the party's first election outing on Saturday.
As central banker, Mr Repse steered the economy through the difficult post-Soviet era and oversaw the replacement of the Russian rouble by a stable national currency, the lat, which underpinned Latvia's economic revival. Latvians are hoping now he can repeat his success in a political environment that is crippled with official corruption.
It was Mr Repse's promise to tackle police corruption and tax fraud that led voters to snub the Prime Minister, Mr Andris Berzins. His party, Latvia's Way, failed to clear the 5 per cent hurdle required to enter parliament.
The left-wing party, For Human Rights in a United Latvia won nearly one fifth of the vote thanks to the Russian-speaking minority but with a new centre-right coalition government likely, the party is headed into opposition.
