{"id":10478,"date":"2026-08-28T21:16:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T21:16:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alausa.org\/?post_type=news&#038;p=10478"},"modified":"2026-08-28T21:16:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T21:16:04","slug":"pbla-announces-pre-election-debate-focused-on-issues-important-to-the-latvian-diaspora","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/alausa.org\/en\/aktualitates\/pbla-announces-pre-election-debate-focused-on-issues-important-to-the-latvian-diaspora\/","title":{"rendered":"PBLA Announces Pre-Election Debate Focused on Issues Important to the Latvian Diaspora"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Latvia prepares for the upcoming 15th Saeima elections, the World Federation of Free Latvians (PBLA), in cooperation with its member organizations around the world, the Latvian Association in the United Kingdom (LPAK), and Latvie\u0161i.com, will host a pre-election debate featuring candidates for the Latvian Parliament. The debate will focus primarily on issues of importance to Latvians living outside Latvia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The debate will take place on <strong>Sunday, September 13, at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time and 7:00 p.m. in Latvia)<\/strong> at the Latvian community property \u201cStraum\u0113ni\u201d in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The discussion will be moderated by <strong>Agnese Drunka<\/strong>, a broadcaster with Latvijas Radio and TV3, and <strong>Ilze Nagla<\/strong>, Latvian Television\u2019s correspondent in Brussels. The debate will be broadcast live through the Latvian Public Media and Latvie\u0161i.com websites and social media channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Six political parties have confirmed their participation: <strong>United List, New Unity, Latvia First, National Alliance, The Progressives, and the Union of Greens and Farmers<\/strong>. The parties will be represented by <strong>Ingm\u0101rs L\u012bdaka, Zanda Kalni\u0146a-Luka\u0161evica, Ain\u0101rs \u0160lesers, Ilze Indriksone, Mairita L\u016bse, and Viktors Valainis<\/strong>, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">PBLA member organizations are also organizing public viewing events at Latvian community centers throughout North America and Europe, allowing members of the diaspora to come together and follow the discussion despite differences in time zones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>We encourage Latvian Americans to take advantage of this opportunity to learn more about the positions of Latvia\u2019s political parties and candidates on issues that matter to the Latvian diaspora before casting their votes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More information is available on <a href=\"https:\/\/pbla.lv\/pasaules-brivo-latviesu-apvieniba-izsludina-prieksvelesanu-debates-straumenos\/\"><strong>PBLA&#8217;s website<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":10480,"template":"","category":[33],"class_list":["post-10478","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-civic-participation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>PBLA Announces Pre-Election Debate Focused on Issues Important to the Latvian Diaspora - American Latvian Association<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alausa.org\/en\/aktualitates\/pbla-announces-pre-election-debate-focused-on-issues-important-to-the-latvian-diaspora\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PBLA Announces Pre-Election Debate Focused on Issues Important to the Latvian Diaspora - American Latvian Association\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As Latvia prepares for the upcoming 15th Saeima elections, the World Federation of Free Latvians (PBLA), in cooperation with its member organizations around the world, the Latvian Association in the United Kingdom (LPAK), and Latvie\u0161i.com, will host a pre-election debate featuring candidates for the Latvian Parliament. 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