National Harmony Party
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Template:Politics of Latvia Tautas Saskaņas Partija (abbreviated TSP, English: People's Harmony Party or National Harmony Party) is a political party in Latvia.
The roots of Tautas Saskaņas Partija are in the moderate wing of Tautas Fronte, the Latvian independence movement of late 1980s and early 1990s. Its leader, Jānis Jurkāns, was the first minister of foreign affairs of Latvia from 1990 to 1992, until having to leave the government for too moderate positions in relations with Russia. He, together, with other activists, founded the Saskaņa Latvijai - Atdzimšana Tautsaimniecībai alliance which won 13 seats (out of 100) in 1993 parliamentary election. The alliance split in 1994 into two parts and one of the parts became Tautas Saskaņas Partija. Jānis Jurkāns has been its leader since then.
From its beginning, Tautas Saskaņas Partija was popular with ethnically Russian voters, due to its very moderate positions on citizenship and language issues. Unlike the other parties popular with Russians, it also had a considerable amount of ethnic Latvians in its leadership and was attempting to bridge the gap between the two communities. It won 6 seats in 1995 parliamentary election. In 1998, it joined with two other predominantly Russian parties, Latvian Socialist Party and Līdztiesība (Equal Rights) which held more radical pro-Russian positions. This step seriously damaged the support of Tautas Saskaņas Partija among ethnic Latvians, turning in into a party with predominantly Russian support. The three parties founded the Par Cilvēka Tiesībām Vienotā Latvijā (For Human Rights in United Latvia) alliance. At the last legislative elections, 5 october 2002, the alliance won 18.9 % of popular vote and 25 out of 100 seats. The alliance stayed together until 2003, when Tautas Saskaņas Partija left it.
The current Tautas Saskaņas Partija defines itself as a social democratic party. It supports further liberalization of the citizenship law by granting an automatic citizenship to all noncitizens which have lived in Latvia for at least 10 years. (The present law allows them to apply via naturalization process but does not grant an automatic citizenship.) It also supports expanding education in minority languages (mainly, Russian).
External link
- Party website (http://www.tsp.lv/?setlang=l&topic=english)et:Rahva Üksmeele Partei