On The Restoration of Independence of The Republic of Latvia - Response

Response

On 4 May 1990, after the declaration was adopted, the Communist Party of Latvia resolved that it was unconstitutional, contained notable contradictions and historical inaccuracies, and noted that such issues should be decided by referendum. The Communist Party deemed that the declaration might trigger the President of the Soviet Union to take countermeasures, therefore the party should launch a propaganda campaign against the declaration and ask the President of the Soviet Union to annul the declaration of the Supreme Soviet. On 14 May 1990, the President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev issued a decree stating that the declaration violated the Constitution of the Soviet Union and the Constitution of the Latvian SSR and thus stood void from the moment of adoption. The Supreme Council answered that the Constitution of the Soviet Union did not grant the president the right to annul acts adopted by Supreme Soviets of Soviet republics. Furthermore the Supreme Council announced that the Supreme Soviet, as the legal successor of the People's Saeima, had the right to annul its decisions which contradicted the Constitution of Latvia which was in force at the time these decisions were made and as the Constitution of the Soviet Union ruled that the Soviet Union was founded upon principles of self-determination, but Latvia was forcibly annexed, reference to it had no juridical basis regarding the Latvian SSR. It also noted that the law of the Soviet Union regarding secession from the Soviet Union to which the decree also referred was not in force in the territory of the Latvian SSR as the Supreme Soviet had not ratified it and that the law contradicted the Constitution of the Soviet Union and the Constitution of Latvian SSR, which provided that Soviet republics can freely secede from the Soviet Union. It was stated that the call for a referendum on secession from the Soviet Union to take place has neither a legal or a political basis, because Latvia had been annexed by the Soviet Union without holding a referendum, which was required by the Constitution of Latvia and Latvia was not seceding from the Soviet Union, but restoring its independence. It was noted that the Constitution of the Latvian SSR did not call for a referendum as it had been stated in the decree, but recommended two alternatives - either a referendum or a public debate which had de facto taken place as it had been discussed in the press and several public opinion polls had taken place showing that a majority of the public supported independence. Similarly in the All-Latvian congress of people deputies of 21 April 1990, 8003 had voted for restoration of independence and the declaration had been adopted by a vote of two thirds of members of the Supreme Soviet which was required for constitutional amendments. Furthermore, the Supreme Council referred to the result of elections of Supreme Soviet as a clear indicator of public opinion that supporters of independence had won the election. The Supreme Council stated that by 28 May 1990, it had received letters and telegrams from 646,726 residents of the Republic supporting the declaration and only 8,993 people had expressed opposition. Given these provisions, the Supreme Council stated that the Declaration was legitimate and in force.