Latvia collecting signatures for making Russian second official tongue
For this purpose, the collection of notarially certified signatures was organised so as to launch later a nation-wide referendum on this question. Organisers are sure that 10,000 signatures, necessary for a referendum, will be collected within three months.
The action was initiated by the non-government organisation Mother Tongue, founded two weeks ago by chairman of the January 13 Movement Vladimir Linderman and head of the Osipov Party Yevgeny Osipov and co-sponsored by the youth movement United Latvia.
"The collection of signatures is conducted through a notary's office where anyone may free confirm his signature. This possibility is suggested not only in traditionally Russian cities as Daugavpils or Resekne, but also in Jelgava, Liepaja, Ludza and Riga," said leader of United Latvia Eduard Svatkov on Tuesday in an interview with the local newspaper Neatkariga Rita Avize.
The collection of notarially certified signatures was launched on March 7, and action organisers are sure that they will collect the necessary 10,000 signatures within three months.
The action was backed by the party For Human Rights in United Latvia that represented in opposition the interests of Russian-speaking residents for many years, but failed to win parliamentary seats at the last elections in October 2010.
The action "For mother tongue" was a response to the opposition nationalist association Fatherland and Freedom (All for Latvia). The latter organised a collection of notarially certified signatures of the country's citizens for switching over Russian schools (financed by the state) to Latvian language education.
Latvian nationalists recently announced that they had collected 10,000 signatures necessary for a referendum. The Latvian Central Election Commission now verifies their veracity.
Over 2.3 million people live in Latvia; out of the total, 365,000, mostly Russian-speaking people, have no Latvian citizenship. Following Latvia's cessation from the Soviet Union in 1991, they were deprived of most political rights, including the right to vote at municipal and general elections as well as at elections to the European Parliament. Kazinform cites Itar-Tass. See www.itar-tass.com