Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs suggested holding a consultative popular referendum on Latvia’s possible withdrawal from the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on violence against women, LETA reports. Kulbergs said that the ruling United List had discussed the idea of a legally non-binding referendum on the question with President Edgars Rinkevics. Kulbergs said that referendum would help the parliament, the Saeima, take a decision on the issue.
Meanwhile, Rinkevics pointed out that introducing a consultative referendum would first require legislative changes. He noted that legal experts had differing opinions on the possibility of putting international treaties to a referendum. Rinkevics argued that there was no rush to withdraw from the treaty, insisted that the issue should not be raised at this time, and said that most parties did not wish to lower human rights standards or raise issues that divided society.
Earlier, a majority of MPs, including from the United List, voted in favour of withdrawing from the Istanbul Convention. However, following mass street protests in support of the human rights treaty, the parliament agreed to the president’s proposal to postpone a final decision on the issue until after the next parliamentary elections. In the elections, which were held on 3 October 2026, the United List scored a sounding victory, winning 41 out of 100 seats.