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		</div><p>Polling stations opened on Saturday in Latvia for a general election which has been influenced by neighbouring Russia’s attack on Ukraine.</p>
<p>Divisions among the Baltic country’s sizeable ethnic-Russian minority and the economy, particularly high energy prices, have also been major talking points during campaigning.</p>
<p>Several polls showed the centre-right New Unity party of Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins emerging as the favourite, with up to 20% support.</p>
<p>Mr Karins, who became head of Latvia’s government in January 2019, currently leads a four-party minority coalition that along with New Unity includes the centre-right National Alliance, the centrist Development/For! and the Conservatives.</p>
<p>A total of 19 parties have more than 1,800 candidates running in the election but only around eight parties are expected to break through the 5% threshold required to secure a place in the 100-seat Saeima legislature.</p>
<p>Mr Karins, a 57-year-old dual Latvian-US citizen born in Delaware, told Latvian media outlets that it would be easiest to continue with the same coalition government if New Unity wins. He has excluded any co-operation with pro-Kremlin parties.</p>
<p>Support for parties catering to the ethnic-Russian minority that makes up over 25% of Latvia’s 1.9 million population is expected to be mixed; a share of loyal voters have abandoned them – for various reasons – since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.</p>
<p>The election is likely to be the death knell for the opposition Harmony party, the popularity of which has steadily declined.</p>
<p>The Moscow-friendly party traditionally served as an umbrella for most of Latvia’s Russian-speaking voters, including Belarusians and Ukrainians.</p>
<p>In the 2018 election, Harmony received almost 20% of the vote, the most of any single party, but was excluded by other parties from entering the government.</p>
<p>However, Harmony’s immediate and staunch opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine caused many voters who still back Russian President Vladimir Putin to desert it.</p>
<p>Those opposed to the war, meanwhile, have tended to move toward Latvia’s mainstream parties, all of which also took positions against the invasion.</p>
<p>Harmony is now trailing in fifth place with 5.1% support, according to a recent poll by Latvian public broadcaster LSM.</p>
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