Andris Bērziņš (Latvian President)

Andris Berzins ( born December 10, 1944 in Nītaure ) is a Latvian businessman and politician. In June 2011 he was elected Latvian president. He is considered one of the wealthiest men of his country.

Education and Career

After his schooling Berzins graduated in 1971 to study at the Polytechnic Institute in Riga as a telecommunications engineer from. His professional career began with the company then the electron, which he left in 1988 as a director. In the same year he completed a degree at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Latvia and was deputy minister of municipal services in the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic ( LSSR ).

From 1993 to January 2004, he was the SEB Unibanka, one of the largest banks in Latvia before. At the same time he advised several other companies and sat on supervisory boards of various companies. Between December 2006 and April 2009, Berzins was a board member of the state energy Latvenergo.

Political career

1990 Berzins was elected to the Supreme Council of the LSSR represented in which he Valmiera. Shortly thereafter, he joined the Latvian People's Front, a political organization that led to the independence of Latvia by the Soviet Union ( 1991). 2005, applied to the non-party Andris Berzins unsuccessfully for the office of mayor in Riga. From 2006 to 2010 he headed the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

In October 2010, Berzins won for the alliance of Greens and Farmers a seat in the Parliament of Latvia. He served there as head of the Economic Committee. On June 2, 2011, the deputies voted him as the new president of Latvia.

The election as president was preceded by a power struggle between Parliament and Berzins ' predecessor Valdis Zatlers. Since Zatlers was of the opinion that the Chamber of Deputies not energetic enough fighting the driven mainly by some oligarchs in the country of corruption, he applied on 28 May 2011, the dissolution of Parliament, who agreed the population 23 July 2011 by a large majority. At the scheduled election of the new President in Parliament on June 2, 2011, the previously traded as an outsider Berzins received in the second ballot 53 of 100 votes; Zatlers united 41 votes. Zatlers was supported by the ruling conservative party Vienotība and the national conservative opposition party VL-TB/LNNK while the alliance of Greens and Farmers, the interests of the Latvian oligarchs responsible party alliance Par Labu Latviju! and the pro-Russian Saskaņas Centrs majority voted for Berzins. In connection with the two ballots, the suspicion of vote buying was charged. July 8th, 2011 Berzins laid aside his oath of office.