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Row in Latvia over forthcoming referendum on official status for Russian language
18/01/2012
NEWS IN BRIEF. A group of MPs is trying to convince the Constitutional Court to stop the vote. The majority of Latvian political parties reject any kind of official status for Russian.
Latvians should go to polls next February 18th to decide if Russian is granted official status in the Baltic country. The referendum was called last year after a successful collection of signatures headed by pro-Russian Dzimtā valoda (Native Language) organization. But members of the Latvian Parliament are trying to block the referendum: a group of MPs has handed a petition to the Constitutional Court to decide whether it is legal or not to hold the referendum.
The proposal must be put into popular vote because the Latvian Parliament already refused in late December to accept the amendment to declare Russian an official language. All political parties in the Parliament but one voted against the amendment because, on their opinion, declaring Russian an official language undermines the very foundations of the Latvian state.
