Latvia's centre-right governing coalition has lost its parliamentary majority, according to initial election results, with the pro-Russia opposition party Harmony gaining the most votes.
Harmony, a left-wing party with many supporters among Latvia's Russian-speaking minority, had on Sunday gained around 20 per cent of votes after 90 per cent had been counted, according to the former Soviet republic's election commission.
Three recently founded parties followed, while Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis' Union of Greens and Farmers gained just ten per cent. The party's coalition partners, the right-wing National Alliance and the the centre-right Unity party also lost seats.
"Harmony was, is and will become Latvia's most important party," the party's prime ministerial candidate Vjaceslavs Dombrovskis said.
Harmony won the most votes in the last two elections, but could not form a governing coalition. Almost all other parties have ruled out a coalition with it this time around as well.
Latvia, which borders Russia, is a member of the European Union and the Western military alliance NATO. Under the Soviet Union, the Russian language dominated the country but Latvian is now the only official language.
The election's big winners were the three newly founded parties: the populist KPV LV and the New Conservative Party each won around 14 per cent of votes, while the liberal For Development/For! party won around 12 per cent.
Seven out of 16 parties and alliances which contested the elections are to enter parliament, known as the Saeima, with coalition negotiations expected to be protracted.
Voter turnout was just 54.6 per cent, the lowest since Latvia gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
