Latvian voters resoundingly rejected a proposal to give official status to Russian, the mother tongue of their former Soviet occupiers, though the referendum defeated yesterday is expected to leave scars on an already divided society.
Russian is the first language for about one-third of the Baltic country’s 2.1 million people and many of them would like to accord official status to the language to reverse what they claim has been 20 years of discrimination.
However, for ethnic Latvians, the referendum was a brazen attempt to encroach on Latvia’s independence, which was restored two decades ago after a half-century of occupation by the Soviet Union following World War II.
Photo: AFP
Many Latvians still consider Russian — the lingua franca of the Soviet Union — as the language of the former occupiers. They also harbor deep mistrust toward Russia and worry that Moscow attempts to wield influence in Latvia through the ethnic Russian minority.
UNIQUE CULTURE
“Latvia is the only place throughout the world where Latvian is spoken, so we have to protect it,” said Martins Dzerve, 37, in Riga, Latvia’s capital. “But Russian is everywhere.”
With more than 93 percent of ballots counted, 75 percent of voters said they were against Russian as a national language, according to the Central Election Commission results.
However, in the eastern region of Latgale, which straddles the border with Russia, a majority of voters approved changing the constitution to make Russian a national language. The region is Latvia’s poorest and has a high percentage of ethnic Russians and other minorities.
“Society is divided into two classes — one half has full rights, and the other half’s rights are violated,” 36-year-old Aleksejs Yevdokimovs said.
“The Latvian half always employs a presumption of guilt toward the Russian half, so that we have to prove things that shouldn’t need to be proven,” he said.
The referendum sparked high voter participation, with more than 70 percent of registered voters casting ballots — considerably higher than in previous elections and referendums.
Long lines were seen at many precincts both in Latvia and abroad, with voters in London reportedly braving a three-hour wait.
Though the Russians who spearheaded the referendum admitted they had no chance of winning the plebiscite, they at least hoped the approximate 25 percent support would force Latvia’s center-right government to begin a dialogue with national minorities.
Hundreds of thousands of Russians, Belarussians and Ukrainians moved to Latvia and the neighboring Baltic republics during the population transfers of the Soviet regime. Many of them never learned Latvian and were denied citizenship when Latvia regained independence, meaning they don’t have the right to vote or work in government.
SOCIAL RIFT
According to the current law, anyone who moved to Latvia during the Soviet occupation, or was born to parents who moved there, is considered a non-citizen and must pass the Latvian language exam to become a citizen.
There are approximately 300,000 non-citizens in Latvia.
Politicians and analysts said the plebiscite widened the schism in society and that the government will have to undertake serious efforts to consolidate the country’s two groups.
Many fear the disgruntled minority will keep up the pressure by calling for more referendums to change Latvia’s constitution for minorities’ benefit.
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