On 9 November, Juris Pūce was unanimously elected as the new chair of ALDE Party member Latvijas attīstībai in Latvia at a party Congress. 

Pūce, formerly a member of the Saeimas and Latvia’s Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, will lead the party’s new board which includes Ivars Ijabs MEP and Artis Pabriks as deputy chairs. 

In the European elections last June, the party received the third largest number of votes in Latvia, securing the re-election of Ijabs, the party’s first-ever representative in Europe.

Pūce, who will be standing as a candidate to become the new Mayor of Riga, stressed the importance of upcoming municipal and parliamentary elections in the country, respectively in 2025 and 2026.

"These will be two very important years and two elections for Latvijas attīstībai as well as for the whole of Latvia. The result of the European elections showed that people support our ideas and appreciate our work,” Pūce told Congress delegates. 

“I can say with certainty that after the 2025 elections, the people of Riga will feel safer, more comfortable and more at ease. I know that our candidates in around 30 other municipalities across Latvia have equally serious goals." 

"Latvian politics is not ready for today's challenges. That is why we – a party that has proven its ability to work in the long term – must have our say,” added Ijabs. 

During Congress, delegates elected new members to the party board on a two-year mandate and adopted amendments to the party statutes.

Šodien @attistibai kongress. Pie esošā varas paguruma un ideju trūkuma ir nepieciešams svaigs redzējums Latvijas izrāvienam. #LatvijaVarLabāk pic.twitter.com/GxCEHYlpxX

— Artūrs Toms Plešs (@ArtursToms) November 9, 2024