Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins announced his resignation todayblaming parties participating in the government formation for his decision.

“This Thursday I will submit my resignation and that of this cabinet to the president,” Karins told a news conference.

Along with other Baltic countries, Lithuania and Estonia, Latvia is among the pioneers which are pushing the European Union and NATO to increase pressure on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

The prime minister’s center-right New Unity party won first place in October 2022 national elections, securing 26 of the 100 seats in a fragmented seven-party parliament that emerged.

In a post on X, Karin Karins blamed his decision to quit on coalition partners, saying they were “putting obstacles in the way of the work for prosperity and economic development”.

Karins’ party leads the government – with a narrow majority in Parliament – of the EU member state with a population of 1.9 millionwith the support of the conservative National Alliance and the United List of smaller parties.

However, relations with the coalition parties deteriorated after a failed attempt to agree on a common candidate in May’s presidential election.

On Friday, Karins tried unsuccessfully to secure the participation of more parliamentary parties in the government. He approached the left-wing Progressive party, the Greens and the Farmers’ Union, a coalition of conservative groups led by Ivars Lembergs, the mayor of the port city of Ventspils, who has been on the US sanctions list since 2019 for alleged corruption.

Karins’ New Unity party plans to choose its candidate for prime minister the day after Wednesday, he announced.

President Edgars Rinkevic has the authority to instruct a new prime minister to form a government. The latter should receive a vote of confidence from the Parliament.

The next parliamentary elections in the country are scheduled for 2026.