Social Democratic Party "Harmony"

Social Democratic Party "Harmony"
Sociāldemokrātiskā Partija "Saskaņa"
Социал-демократическая партия «Согласие»
AbbreviationS
ChairmanJānis Urbanovičs
Vice chairmanKonstantīns Čekušins
Founders
Founded21 November 2009 (2009-11-21)
Registered10 February 2010 (2010-02-10)
Merger of
HeadquartersStabu iela 19-25, Riga
Youth wingRestart.lv
Membership (2017)3,653[1]
IdeologySocial democracy
Russian minority politics
Political positionCentre-left[2][3][4][5][6][7] to left-wing[8][9][10][11][12][13]
National affiliationHarmony Centre
(2009–2014, since 2026)
European affiliationParty of European Socialists
European Parliament groupProgressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
International affiliationProgressive Alliance
Colours  Red
Saeima
0 / 100
European Parliament
1 / 9
Riga City Council
0 / 60
Mayors
1 / 43
Website
saskana.eu

The Social Democratic Party "Harmony" (Latvian: Sociāldemokrātiskā partija "Saskaņa"; Russian: Социал-демократическая партия «Согласие», romanized: Sotsial-demokraticheskaya partiya «Soglasiye», S),[nb 1] also commonly referred to as Harmony (Saskaņa), is a social-democratic political party in Latvia.[14][15][16] It was the largest political party in the Saeima, representing the Russian minority of Latvia,[6] before losing all of its parliamentary seats in the 2022 Latvian parliamentary election. It is currently led by Jānis Urbanovičs and is part of the Harmony Center party alliance.[17]

History

It was founded in 2010 as the merger of the National Harmony Party (TSP) with New Centre (JC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a breakaway from the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party (LSDSP).[18][19] At the time, all three parties were part of the Harmony Centre coalition, which was also made up of the Socialist Party of Latvia.[20] The Daugavpils City Party merged into Harmony in 2011.[21] From 2014 to 2026, the Harmony Center alliance was inactive.

The former chairman of the party, Nils Ušakovs served as the Mayor of Riga from 2009 to 2019,[22] and was Harmony's candidate for the office of Prime Minister of Latvia in 2014. Internationally, "Harmony" is a member of the Progressive Alliance[23][24] and the Party of European Socialists.[25] After the 2014 European Parliament election in Latvia, its sole MEP, Andrejs Mamikins, sat in the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group[25] in the European Parliament.[26] In 2018, after disagreements with Ušakovs, he defected[27] to the Latvian Russian Union, and the party lost its representation in the European Parliament until the 2019 European Parliament election in Latvia, when Ušakovs and his ally, former Vice Mayor of Riga Andris Ameriks (a member of Honor to serve Riga) were elected.[28] In the 2018 Latvian parliamentary election, Harmony won 23 seats, but in the subsequent 2022 Latvian parliamentary election was unable to secure any parliamentary seats, polling slightly less than the 5% threshold (of all votes, including invalid) with 4.9% of the vote. Some former Harmony supporters appeared to support a new Eurosceptic populist party, For Stability!, that split from Harmony in 2021.[2] In 2023, around 120 Harmony members from Rēzekne, Rēzekne Municipality, and Ludza Municipality left after Rēzekne Mayor Aleksandrs Bartaševičs was expelled from the paarty.[29]

Harmony is positioned on the centre-left to left-wing on the political spectrum, although it has taken conservative rhetoric regarding social issues,[30][31][32] while its parliamentary membership is not uniformly socially conservative.[33] It previously had ties with United Russia until 2017,[34] when Harmony joined the Party of European Socialists.[35] It is also a member of the Progressive Alliance.[36]

Election results

Legislative elections

Election Party leader Performance Rank Government
Votes % ± pp Seats +/–
2010[a] Jānis Urbanovičs 251,400 26.61 New
24 / 100
 New 2nd Opposition
2011[b] Nils Ušakovs 259,930 28.62 Increase 2.01
28 / 100
 Increase 4 Increase 1st Opposition
2014 209,887 23.15 Decrease 5.47
24 / 100
 Decrease 4 Steady 1st Opposition
2018 Vjačeslavs Dombrovskis 167,117 19.92 Decrease 3.23
23 / 100
 Decrease 1 Steady 1st Opposition
2022 Ivars Zariņš 43,943 4.86 Decrease 15.06
0 / 100
 Decrease 23 Decrease 9th Extra-parliamentary
2026[c] Jānis Urbanovičs
  1. ↑ Harmony Centre list won 29 seats; 4 went to SPL and 1 to DCP
  2. ↑ Harmony Centre list won 31 seats; 3 went to the SPL
  3. ↑ As Harmony Centre together with the Centre Party

European Parliament elections

Election List leader Votes % Seats +/– EP Group
2014 Boris Tsilevitch 57,863 13.14 (#3)
1 / 8
 New S&D
2019 Nils Ušakovs 82,604 17.56 (#2)
2 / 8
 Increase 1
2024 37,096 7.21 (#6)
1 / 9
 Steady 0

References

  1. ↑ The party officially translates its name as Social Democratic Party "Concord".
  1. ↑ Klūga, Māris (3 January 2018). "What's up with Latvia's feeble civic engagement?". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Latvia: decisive election gains for pro-western parties". Civicus. 2022-10-06. Retrieved 2023-12-29. The centre-left Harmony party, which came first in the last two elections, was left with no parliamentary seats after its vote share fell to a little below the threshold of five per cent.
  3. ↑ "Pro-Russia party gets most votes in Latvia election". Deutsche Welle. 7 October 2018. Retrieved 2023-12-29. The left-leaning Harmony secured 19.9 percent support in Saturday's vote, but would likely have trouble forming a ruling coalition.
  4. ↑ "How to deal with Harmony". The Economist. 6 October 2018. Retrieved 2023-12-29. HARMONY, a centre-left party, which draws most of its support from Latvia's Russians, won more votes than any other party in Latvia's parliamentary elections on Saturday.
  5. ↑ "Harmony most popular political party in Latvia in June". The Baltic Times. 26 June 2015. Retrieved 2023-12-29. With June 2015 coming to an end, Latvian state television reported the latest data from Latvijas Fakti indicates the centre-left Harmony party, is the most popular political party in Latvia this month.
  6. 1 2 Hanley, Sean L (October 8, 2014). "Latvia's elections: Can there be harmony without Harmony?". University College London. Retrieved February 21, 2017. The results, announced by the electoral commission soon after the closing of the polls, saw the Russophone-friendly, centre-left party Harmony once again in first place, with 23 per cent of the vote and 24 of the 100 seats in the Saeima (the Latvian parliament).
  7. ↑ "Latvia: Major Political Earthquake in Riga Elections". Europe Elects. 2020-08-31. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  8. ↑ Ansgar Jödicke; Aybiçe Tosun; Regina Polak, eds. (2025). Religious and Non-Religious Narratives on Migration: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Brill Deutschland. p. 185. ISBN 978-3-657-79795-0. A peculiarity of the Latvian political environment is the anti-immigration positiion of both the left-leaning populists (For Latvia from the Heart, Stability) and the left-wingers (Harmony).
  9. ↑ Hyndle-Hussein, Joanna (10 August 2014). "Election in Latvia overshadowed by ethnic divides". Centre for Eastern Studies. Retrieved 30 July 2026. The opposition left-wing pro-Russian party Harmony were the most popular grouping. (...) Left-leaning voters and members of the Russian minorities could choose between two groupings this year: Harmony, which this time promoted itself not only as a minority party but also as a social democratic and left-wing alternative to the centre-right government
  10. ↑ Chu, Lee (28 September 2022). "Latvian Parliamentary Elections: Party Platform Guide". Foreign Policy Research Institute. Retrieved 30 July 2026. Harmony proposes left-wing economic policies.
  11. ↑ Deloy, Corinne (1 October 2022). "General Elections in Latvia" (PDF). Robert Schuman Foundation. Retrieved 30 July 2026. Harmony (S), the social democratic party, the main left-wing opposition led by Janis Urbanovics and for several years the leading political force in the country, has seen a sharp drop in opinion polls since 24 February, the date of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian army forces. (...) Harmony's long-standing popularity and electoral success was due to the party's ability to unite Latvia's Russian speakers behind a left-wing programme that emphasised the rights of the minority they represented, including language issues
  12. ↑ "Pro-Russia party wins most votes in Latvia". Special Broadcasting Service. Associated Press. 7 October 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2026. Harmony, a left-wing party with many supporters among Latvia's Russian-speaking minority, had on Sunday gained around 20 per cent of votes after 90 per cent had been counted, according to the former Soviet republic's election commission.
  13. ↑ "Left-wing party wins Latvia's parliamentary election: preliminary results". Xinhuanet. 7 October 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2026. The Latvian left-wing Harmony party has won Saturday's parliamentary election with nearly one fifth of the votes, according to the preliminary results released Sunday by the election authority..
  14. ↑ Nordsieck, Wolfram (2018). "Latvia". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  15. ↑ "Ruling coalition loses its majority in Latvia's general election". euronews. 2018-10-07. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  16. ↑ "Safer under the bed: why Latvian politicians mistrust banks". POLITICO. 2016-04-22. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  17. ↑ "Partijas «Saskaņa» vadības grožus atkal pārņem Urbanovičs". www.lsm.lv (in Latvian). 2024-11-30. Retrieved 2026-02-02.
  18. ↑ Tom Lansford (April 8, 2014). Political Handbook of the World 2014. SAGE Publications. pp. 811–812. ISBN 978-1-4833-3327-4.
  19. ↑ "Latvia's 'Harmony' in Jeopardy". Foreign Policy Research Institute. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  20. ↑ Kaža, Juris (August 14, 2018). "Who is who in upcoming Latvian parliamentary elections". Re:Baltica. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
  21. ↑ Daugavpils partija iekļaujas 'Saskaņā'; SC veidos divi spēki
  22. ↑ "Ušakovs and Rubiks removed from board of Harmony". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 4 October 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  23. ↑ "Parties & Organisations". Progressive Alliance. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  24. ↑ "Socialist International - Progressive Politics For A Fairer World". Socialist International. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  25. 1 2 "Saskaņa joins Party of European Socialists". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. LETA. November 27, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  26. ↑ "Sociāldemokrātiskā Partija Saskaņa". Archived from the original on 2015-10-02. Retrieved 2015-11-03.
  27. ↑ "MEP about Riga Mayor's desires: maybe all three of his wives should be given jobs?". Baltic News Network. 28 May 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  28. ↑ "Riga's ex-mayor and ex-vice-mayor receive posts in EP committees". Baltic News Network. July 4, 2019. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  29. ↑ "Latgale members leave Harmony party en masse". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 7 February 2023. Retrieved 30 July 2026.
  30. ↑ "Opposition Saskaņa party reveals economist and preacher as spearheads". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 18 June 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  31. ↑ "Saeima approves lessons in 'constitutional morality' for schoolchildren". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. June 18, 2015. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  32. ↑ Spriņģe, Inga. "Putin's Children". Re:Baltica. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
  33. ↑ "Parliament of Latvia rejects petition for partnership legislation". ILGA-Europe. July 1, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  34. ↑ "Latvia's Harmony party: no plans to end agreement with Putin's United Russia". The Baltic Times. January 22, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  35. ↑ "Saskaņa quietly ditches Putin party agreement". Rīta Panorāma. Public Broadcasting of Latvia. October 9, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  36. ↑ "Socialist International - Progressive Politics For A Fairer World". Socialist International. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
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