Political Career
Valdis Zatlers was a board member of the Popular Front of Latvia in 1988–1989. On 22 May 2007, the ruling parliamentary coalition of the Latvian Saeima officially nominated Zatlers as its presidential candidate. Zatlers himself was not a member of any political party, but had signed the manifesto of the People's Party when the party was founded in 1998.
In his TV speech on 28 May 2011 President Zatlers called for radical reforms to curb the corrupting influence of oligarchs. He accused lawmakers of being soft on corruption and announced that he would use his constitutional powers to initiate a referendum on the dissolution of the current Saeima. The formal cause of this decision was refusal of the parliament to sanction the search at the home of Ainārs Šlesers, a Saeima member and former minister. Zatlers is the first President of Latvia to use these reserve presidential powers. The Constitution of Latvia foresees that if the people will support Zatlers' decision, the Saeima will be dismissed and new parliament elections organized.
On 2 June 2011 an MP from the Greens and Farmers' Union Andris Bērziņš defeated the incumbent Valdis Zatlers in presidential elections despite Zatlers previously having been widely expected to win the vote.
He founded the Reform Party in July 2011.
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