“The people’s dream of an independent Latvia, the politicians’ ability to work together for a higher ideal and parliamentary democracy – these were the cornerstones of the newly-founded state. Today we can only marvel at how politically mature and modern the state of Latvia was upon its birth. Our nation has gone through a lot over the past century, but this path has always led us towards the three stars. Our land, our language and our state,” underlined Speaker Ināra Mūrniece during her address for the ceremonial sitting of the Saeima in honour of the 100th Anniversary of the Proclamation of the Republic of Latvia at the National Theatre of Latvia.

On Tuesday, 6 November, the new convocation of the parliament elected the Presidium of the 13th Saeima.

On Tuesday, 6 November, the members of the 13th Saeima elected Ināra Mūrniece as their Speaker.

On Thursday, 1 November, in the second and final reading the Saeima supported a draft law ratifying the Agreement between the governments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania regarding the automatic recognition of academic qualifications concerning higher education.

On Thursday, 1 November, the Saeima supported in the final reading the adoption of a new Diaspora Law to strengthen the diaspora’s ties with Latvia, rendering it an inseparable part of Latvia’s society, providing the diaspora with opportunities to freely maintain, create and expand its ties with Latvia, promoting the maintenance of Latvian language proficiency, culture and sense of belonging to Latvia, and promoting remigration.

On Thursday, 1 November, the Saeima adopted in the final reading a law on organising a receipt lottery. The lottery, which aims to urge people to ask for receipts or tickets for the products or services they purchase, is one of the measures to combat shadow economy.

On Thursday, 11 October, the Saeima adopted the Whistleblower Protection Law.  

On Thursday, 4 October, the Saeima approved in the final reading amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia to allow an open ballot in the election of the president of the State.

The Latvian SSR Committee for State Security (KGB) files will now be freely accessible for research at the Latvian State Archive, with some parts of the files made available on its website, according to the amended Law adopted by the Saeima on Thursday, 4 October, in the final reading.