The New Party abbreviated to JP, was a centrist

Centrism

In politics, centrism is the ideal or the practice of promoting policies that lie different from the standard political left and political right. Most commonly, this is visualized as part of the one-dimensional political spectrum of left-right politics, with centrism landing in the middle between...

 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...

. Formed by composer Raimonds Pauls

Raimonds Pauls

Raimonds Pauls is a Latvian and Soviet composer and piano player who is well-known and respected in Latvia and the former Soviet Union.-Music:...

, the party won eight 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 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...

 on the back of Pauls's popularity. After the election, the JP entered into a minority government

Minority government

A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...

 with Latvian Way

Latvian Way

Latvian Way was a centre-right liberal party in Latvia. It merged with Latvia's First Party to form the Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way in 2007.It described itself as "a liberal party defending people's freedom to shape their own lives"...

 and For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK.

In the June 1999 presidential election, the party nominated Pauls for the presidency, and Pauls came first after five ballots, but withdrew his candidacy, as he still couldn't receive more than a third of the votes. The party dropped out of the governing coalition the following month, when it was replaced by the People's Party

People's Party (Latvia)

The People's Party was a centre-right political party in Latvia. It described itself as a conservative party.Tautas partija was founded in 1998 by Andris Šķēle, a businessman and former prime minister, who was the chairman of the party until 2002. Because of Šķēle's powerful personality, many...

 under new PM

Prime Minister of Latvia

The Prime Minister of Latvia is the most powerful member of the Government of the Republic of Latvia, and presides over the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers...

 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....

. In May 2000, it entered the centre-right

Centre-right

The centre-right or center-right is a political term commonly used to describe or denote individuals, political parties, or organizations whose views stretch from the centre to the right on the left-right spectrum, excluding far right stances. Centre-right can also describe a coalition of centrist...

 governing coalition. However, Pauls left the party to become an independent MP in August 2000, leading to its influence declining. The party dissolved after Pauls's departure, with a third of its MPs joining the new Latvia's First Party.