Harmony Centre

Harmony Centre (abbreviated SC; Latvian :Saskaņas Centrs; Russian :Центр согласия) is a political alliance in Latvia. It was formed in 2005 and its main member parties are the National Harmony Party, the Socialist Party of Latvia and the New Centre. Journalist Nils Ušakovs has been chairman since Autumn 2005 (the first chairman was Riga city councillor and head of the NC Sergejs Dolgopolovs). In the October 2006 elections, the party won 17 of 100 seats. It became the fourth largest party in Parliament and the second largest opposition party.

In January 2009, the Social Democratic Union (Latvian :Sociāldemokrātu savienība, abbreviated SDS) joined the alliance.

In the 2009 European Parliament Election, the party was the second most voted for party in Latvia, receiving almost 20% of the votes and winning 2 MEPs.

Political Positions

Although Harmony Centre claims to be "the only political party in Latvia in which ethnic Latvians and Russian-speakers work together", almost all of Harmony Centre's members of parliament come from the Russian-speaking community of Latvia. Harmony Centre supports increased role for Russian language in education and public administration. It also supports changes in Latvia's citizenship that would award Latvian citizenship to a large number of non-citizens. Economically, Harmony Centre supports increased social spending, even if it results in Latvia running a budget deficit.

Translation of "Harmony Centre"

Catalan: Centre de l'Harmonia, German: Saskaņas Centrs, French: Centre de l'harmonie, Italian: Centro dell'Armonia, Latvian: Saskaņas centrs, Lithuanian: Santarvės centras, Norwegian (Bokmål): Saskaņas Centrs, Polish: Centrum Zgody, Russian: Центр согласия, Swedish: Saskaņas Centrs.