The Latvian Unity Party abbreviated to LVP was a left-wing

Left-wing politics

In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...

 political party in Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

 in the 1990s. Established in December 1992, the party primarily represented former communists.

The party ran a list of candidates in the 1993 election

Latvian parliamentary election, 1993

Elections for the 5th Saeima, the parliament of Latvia were held on 5 June and 6 June 1993, the first parliamentary elections in Latvia after its independence was restored in 1991....

, but won only 0.1% of the vote: far below the 4% election threshold

Election threshold

In party-list proportional representation systems, an election threshold is a clause that stipulates that a party must receive a minimum percentage of votes, either nationally or within a particular district, to obtain any seats in the parliament...

. It received a new lease of life when it was joined by Alberts Kauls, a celebrated leader of a former collective. The party won five seats in the Saeima

Saeima

Saeima is the parliament of the Republic of Latvia. It is a unicameral parliament consisting of 100 members who are elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated to political parties which gain at least 5% of the popular vote. Elections are scheduled to be held once every four years,...

 at the 1995 election

Latvian parliamentary election, 1995

Elections for 6th Saeima, the parliament of Latvia were held on September 30 and October 1, 1995. There were lists of candidates from 19 political parties. The voter participation was 72.65%, with 965,339 out of 1,328,779 eligible voters casting votes....

. It joined a grand coalition

Grand coalition

A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government...

 government under Andris Šķēle

Andris Škele

Andris Šķēle is a Latvian politician and Business oligarch. He has served two terms as Prime Minister of Latvia from 21 December 1995 to 7 August 1997, and from 16 July 1999 to 5 May 2000....

 from 21 December 1995 to 13 February 1997. Initially, Alberts Kauls served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture, but was made to resign by Šķēle on 6 May 1996, and his positions were given to fellow LVP member Roberts Dilba to hold until the fall of the coalition in February 1997. Most of its deputies left the party in March 1997, with most joining the Latvian Farmers' Union

Latvian Farmers' Union

The Latvian Farmers' Union is a centrist agrarian political party in Latvia. Founded in 1917, it was the most influential right-wing political party between the two World Wars, during the period of Latvian independence from the Russian SFSR in 1918 until its annexation by the Soviet Union in 1940,...

–Christian Democratic Union

Christian Democratic Union (Latvia)

The Christian Democratic Union is a minor christian democratic political party in Latvia. It is currently led by Māra Viktorija Zilgalve.- History :...

 caucus in the Saeima. In the 1998 election

Latvian parliamentary election, 1998

Elections for 7th Saeima, the parliament of Latvia were held on October 3, 1998. There were lists of candidates from 21 political parties, with a total of 1081 candidates...

, the party won no seats.